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diff --git a/18280.txt b/18280.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16b8fa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/18280.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7687 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Enter Bridget, by Thomas Cobb + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Enter Bridget + +Author: Thomas Cobb + +Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18280] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENTER BRIDGET *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +ENTER BRIDGET + + +BY + +THOMAS COBB + + + +AUTHOR OF "PHILLIDA," "THE CHOICE OF THEODORA," + +"THE ANGER OF OLIVIA," ETC. + + + + + +SECOND EDITION + + + + +MILLS & BOON, LIMITED + +49 RUPERT STREET + +LONDON, W. + + + + +Published 1912. + + + + + +INSCRIBED TO + +E. C. + +MY BEST OF FRIENDS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I LATE FOR DINNER + II MARK EXPLAINS + III BRIDGET + IV BRIDGET AT GRANDISON SQUARE + V COLONEL FAVERSHAM + VI CONCERNING BIRTHDAYS + VII THE EXCURSION + VIII A PROPOSAL + IX MARK RETURNS + X CONFIDENCES + XI MARK REPORTS PROGRESS + XII SYBIL + XIII A WALK ABROAD + XIV THE WOOING O'T + XV MARK MAKES A BEGINNING + XVI BUYING A CARPET--AND AFTER + XVII HASTY WORDS + XVIII HOW IT HAPPENED + XIX AN APPOINTMENT + XX IN SIGHT OF PORT + XXI JIMMY SETS TO WORK + XXII INCRIMINATING HIMSELF + XXIII HAVING IT OUT + XXIV A HOT SCENT + XXV OPEN CONFESSION + XXVI LAWRENCE SUMS IT UP + XXVII "MRS. JIMMY" + XXVIII EXEUNT OMNES + + + + +ENTER BRIDGET + + +CHAPTER I + +LATE FOR DINNER + +Concerning Bridget there was from the outset considerable difference of +opinion. Mark Driver, for instance, always showed a tendency to +something more than tolerance, and even Carrissima Faversham, in spite +of a manifestly unfavourable bias, strove to hold the balance even. It +was her brother Lawrence who took the most adverse view; insisting that +Miss Rosser was neither more nor less than an adventuress--"a pretty +woman on the make" was his expression, uttered, it is true, before he +had an opportunity of seeing her face. + +Her entrance on the scene was heralded by Mark Driver one evening +towards the end of March, when he had accepted an invitation to dine +with his sister and Lawrence in Charteris Street, S.W. + +Carrissima's maid found her so exacting that evening, that she might +have been going to an important party, instead of merely to a quiet +dinner with her brother and his wife; but then, expecting Mark to make +a fourth, she wished to look her very best, and flattered herself she +had succeeded. + +Although she sometimes longed for the power to add a few inches to her +stature, she realized that she had already much to be thankful for. +Suppose, for example, that her eyebrows had been as fair as her hair, +or even worse, her eyelashes, which as it happened were satisfactorily +black. + +Mr. Lawrence Faversham, barrister-at-law, was thirty-two years of age, +and rather short, although he always held his head in the air as if he +were doing his best to appear taller. Hearing the street door bell +ring, Mrs. Lawrence Faversham waylaid Carrissima on the stairs and +insisted on taking her to gaze at little Victor, aged two, peacefully +sleeping in the nursery. + +"Mark's late as usual," exclaimed Lawrence, as his sister presently +sailed into the drawing-room. "Ten minutes past eight," he added, +taking her hand. + +He had fair hair, a long narrow face and sloping shoulders. Whether he +was sitting down or standing up, there always seemed to be something +stiff, self-important and formal about him. + +"Mark wasn't due at King's Cross until tea-time," said Phoebe, a pretty +brunette, several inches taller than her husband and seven years +younger. "I wanted him to sleep here to-night, and really I cannot +imagine why he refused." + +"Not very complimentary to us," answered Lawrence, "to prefer to go to +an hotel!" + +"And," Phoebe explained, "he is off to Paris to-morrow morning." + +"Well, I wish to goodness he would come soon if he's coming at all," +grumbled Lawrence. + +"Oh, of course, he's certain to be here," urged Phoebe, not liking to +begin dinner without her brother, who might provokingly arrive as soon +as they sat down; while on the other hand, her three years' experience +of married life had taught her that it was undesirable to keep Lawrence +waiting. When half-past eight struck, however, she could restrain his +impatience no longer; the three went to the dining-room, and +Carrissima, with a sense of profound disappointment, sat down at the +round table opposite the empty chair. + +Although Phoebe did her utmost to spin out the meal by eating with +tantalizing and hygienic slowness, it ended without any sign of the +absentee, and at last she felt bound to return to the drawing-room, +where she was followed ten minutes later by Lawrence, who had stayed to +smoke a cigarette. + +"The worst of it is," he said, standing before the fire, "you never +know quite where you are with Mark." + +"I suppose," suggested Carrissima, "the simple fact of the matter is +that he missed his train." + +"In that case," returned her brother, "surely he might have run to +sixpence for a telegram. For a steady-going fellow Mark is about as +erratic as they're made." + +"How extremely inconsistent!" exclaimed Carrissima. + +"Not at all!" said Lawrence, frowning, as he took a chair. "A man may +drive crookedly without exceeding the limit. Although there are things +you can swear Mark would never dream of doing, you never know what +folly he will be up to next." + +As Lawrence was speaking in his rather pompous manner, the door opened +and Mark Driver entered the room: tall, broad-shouldered, with a +handsome, alert, shaven face and an obvious appearance of haste. + +On leaving Cambridge he had gone to Saint Bartholomew's, and having +completed his course there, taken a post as House Surgeon at Saint +Josephine's, a small hospital in a southeastern suburb. Mark remained +there two years and left at Christmas; after spending a few weeks idly +in London he went to take charge of Doctor Bunbury's practice in +Yorkshire, principally for the sake of being near to his own people, +and having passed two months, more occupied by sport than patients, +returned this afternoon. + +"Why didn't you come in time for dinner?" demanded Phoebe, as he kissed +her cheek. + +"Upon my word, I am most awfully sorry," he replied, and turned at once +to Carrissima, who was striving to hide her satisfaction on seeing his +face again. Never, perhaps, during their long acquaintance, had they +been so many months apart; but while Mark was in London between +Christmas and his departure for the North of England, Carrissima had +been on a long visit to Devonshire. + +"I didn't expect to meet you this evening," said Mark. "Phoebe told me +in her letter last week that you were staying in Shropshire with +Colonel Faversham." + +"So I was," returned Carrissima. "But I never had the least intention +to live there for the remainder of my life." + +"She took us all completely by surprise," explained Phoebe, "by coming +home the day before yesterday." + +"I really cannot understand even now," said Lawrence, "why in the world +you couldn't stay to return with father!" + +"Oh well, it's an ill-wind that blows no one any good," cried Mark, +while Carrissima sat with her eyes averted, hoping that nobody would +suspect her actual object. + +But she had known of his intention to depart for Paris the next +morning, to spend a month with his old friend Wentworth before finally +settling down in London. If she had waited for Colonel Faversham's +return to Grandison Square she must, obviously, have missed Mark Driver +again. One of the chief purposes of Carrissima's life seemed to be the +disguise of motives, concerning which she scarcely knew whether she +ought to feel ashamed or not. + +"Well," suggested Lawrence, "we haven't heard why you didn't turn up in +time." + +"I hope I didn't keep you waiting," said Mark, at last shaking hands +with his brother-in-law. + +"Only half-an-hour!" + +"You see," Mark explained, "I dined at Belloni's." + +"Good gracious!" answered Lawrence, with evident annoyance, "if you +could go to Belloni's, why in the world couldn't you come here as you +promised?" + +"I meant to come," said Mark, looking somewhat embarrassed, as he +glanced at Carrissima. "You see, I went to Duffield's Hotel in Craven +Street direct from the station. I thought I would just potter about +and smoke a pipe or so till it was time to change." + +"But you haven't changed!" exclaimed Lawrence, with a disapproving +frown at Mark's blue serge jacket. It no doubt suited his long, +athletic figure admirably; but, nevertheless, was very much out of +place in present circumstances. + +"No, of course not," said Mark. "The fact is I altered my mind. +Instead of hanging about at Duffield's, I thought I would go to Golfney +Place." + +"What on earth for?" + +"Oh well, to see Bridget, you know," answered Mark, and once more he +glanced at Carrissima, whose eyes met his own. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MARK EXPLAINS + +"Who is Bridget?" asked Phoebe, whereupon Mark swung round to face her, +his hands thrust deep in his jacket pockets, his face slightly flushed. + +"Miss Rosser," he said. "You remember Bridget Rosser, Phoebe! When we +stayed at Crowborough four years ago." + +"Five," suggested Lawrence, with his usual meticulous exactitude. + +"You were not there," said Mark. + +"But still," answered Lawrence, "I remember going down with father to +look at the house before he made up his mind to take it." + +"I recollect Bridget perfectly well," said Carrissima in her most +cheerful tone. "Her father was David Rosser the novelist." + +"He died in Paris about ten months ago," explained Mark, "and Bridget +was his only daughter." + +"A rather nice-looking girl, with reddish hair!" said Phoebe. + +"The most wonderful hair!" exclaimed Mark. "I have never seen anything +like it. Oh, she's wonderful altogether!" + +"Where did you come across Miss Rosser again?" inquired Lawrence, while +Carrissima wished that her cheeks would not tingle so uncomfortably. + +"At the Old Masters' about three months ago--just after Christmas," +replied Mark. "I had lately left Saint Josephine's, you know. I +should never have recognized her, but she happened to drop her purse; I +naturally picked it up, and then she asked whether my name wasn't +Driver." + +"Isn't Golfney Place chiefly lodging-houses?" asked Carrissima. + +"Number Five is one, anyhow." + +"Does Miss Rosser live with her mother?" suggested Phoebe. + +"Mrs. Rosser died shortly after we left Crowborough," was the answer. +"Then the house was given up. Bridget wandered about Europe with her +father until his own death a little less than a year ago." + +"Then," demanded Lawrence, "whom does she live with?" + +"Oh, she's quite on her own." + +"What is her age, for goodness' sake?" + +"Upon my word, I don't know for certain," said Mark. "I couldn't very +well inquire. I should say she's about the same age as Carrissima." + +"As a matter of prosaic fact," answered Carrissima, forcing a smile, +although she did not feel very cheerful at the moment, "she is a few +months older." + +"Well," Lawrence persisted, "after picking up the purse at the Old +Masters', what was the next move in the game?" + +Phoebe was beginning to look rather anxious. She realized that Mark +was growing impatient under Lawrence's cross-examination--he was +supposed to be a skilful cross-examiner. It was occasionally a little +difficult to keep the peace between these two men, who were her +dearest; with the exception, perhaps, of the little man up-stairs. + +"Bridget asked me to call," said Mark, "or I asked whether I might. I +forget which, and what in the world does it matter?" + +"Anyhow, you went!" + +"Why, of course," was the answer. + +"Is Miss Rosser--is she hard up, by any chance?" asked Lawrence. + +"Good Lord, no!" exclaimed Mark. "My dear fellow, you've got quite a +wrong impression. Hard up! You've only to see her." + +"No doubt," suggested Lawrence, "you have had numerous opportunities." + +"Oh well," said Mark, with a shrug, "she was on her lonesome and so was +I at the time. It was just before I went to Yorkshire, you know. +Carrissima was in Devonshire and I was kicking my heels in idleness at +Duffield's." + +"It really was rather too bad," remarked Phoebe, "to go there this +evening, considering that you were engaged to dine with us. Wasn't it, +Carrissima?" + +"Oh, it was shameful of you, Mark!" cried Carrissima, with a laugh. + +"You understand how it was," he explained, taking a chair by her side. +"I didn't mean to stay ten minutes. I thought I could get there and +back comfortably in a taxi, and so I should, but----" + +"The temptation proved too strong for you," suggested Lawrence. + +"I don't know what you mean by 'temptation,'" retorted Mark, while +Phoebe tried to catch her husband's eye. "Bridget was most awfully +pleased to see me. She had a fit of the blues for some reason or +other." + +"Is she liable to that sort of thing?" asked Lawrence. + +"Not a bit of it," said Mark enthusiastically. "She's just about the +brightest girl you have ever seen in your life. That was what made it +the more upsetting. I felt I must do something to cheer her up." + +"So you took her to Belloni's!" said Lawrence. "They do you uncommonly +well at Belloni's." + +"Anyhow," Mark admitted, "they gave us some ripping Burgundy. I got +away directly we finished dinner," he continued, "and I knew Phoebe +wouldn't mind." + +"Well," said Lawrence, in response to her warning frown, "now you're +here, suppose we have a game at bridge." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +BRIDGET + +To put the matter plainly, Carrissima was jealous. + +It was half-past eleven when she reached her father's house at Number +13, Grandison Square, S.W., and she felt pleased to find that the fire +was still alight in the drawing-room. Having told the butler that he +need not sit up any longer, she threw off her long cloak, leaned back +in an easy-chair right in front of the grate, crossed her feet on the +fender, and clasped her miniature waist. + +Remembering Bridget Rosser, with her vivid chestnut-coloured hair, her +somewhat pale skin, her wonderful eyes (as Mark quite justifiably +described them), her face, which was extraordinarily attractive, +although it might not contain one perfect feature, Carrissima could not +help feeling that there might be serious cause for jealousy. + +Of course, it was evident that Mark had not expected to find her at +Charteris Street; he had believed she was still at Church Stretton with +Colonel Faversham, and perhaps, if he had been aware of her presence in +London, Lawrence might not have had to wait for his dinner. Moreover, +Mark Driver was precisely the kind of man who would go out of his way +to do any woman a good turn--pretty or plain; but still, after making +every allowance, the fact remained that Carrissima was jealous. + +It had for long been an open question (in her own mind at least) +whether he cared for her or not. If he did, she would have liked to +know why he had waited so long before putting his fate to the touch, +although the matter was again complicated by the sensitiveness of +Mark's disposition. + +Carrissima's modest fortune (derived from her mother), which would have +proved a temptation to many men, might be an obstacle where he was +concerned. The fact that it was just what he required at the beginning +of his career might easily be conceived as holding him back. Not that +she imagined that, in favourable circumstances, it would be regarded as +a perpetual barrier; only Mark might prefer to wait until he had +settled down to the more serious practice of the profession, about +which no man could be keener. The truth was that Carrissima was prone +to search for a variety of explanations for his backwardness, all more +or less fantastic. + +The immediate question was: Should she take any notice of Bridget +Rosser, or leave her to her own devices? + +In the ordinary course of things, Carrissima would scarcely have +hesitated. If she had been told by anybody else that Bridget was +living alone in London, doubtless she would have lost very little time +in finding her way to Number 5, Golfney Place. She invariably strove +to act in every particular as if she were entirely disinterested, +although she was far from being so. She knew that her life's happiness +depended solely on Mark! + +Five years ago Bridget had been barely eighteen; she had looked even +younger than Carrissima: a slim, graceful girl, apparently just fresh +from the school-room. She lived in a delightful, old-fashioned house +with a rambling garden, situated about a quarter of a mile from that +which Colonel Faversham had rented furnished for the summer because of +its proximity to the golf-course. + +His wife had died twelve months earlier, and Carrissima, in her +eighteenth year, proved an inexperienced hostess to the relays of +visitors, who included, amongst others, Mark Driver (at that time a +medical student), his sister Phoebe and Miss Sybil Clynesworth. At the +club-house Colonel Faversham met David Rosser and Mrs. Rosser, already +an invalid, having been wheeled over in her bath-chair to make +Carrissima's acquaintance; there were henceforth frequent journeyings +on bicycles between the two houses, until the time arrived for the +Favershams' return to London. + +One or two letters had been exchanged between Carrissima and Bridget, +who was invited to stay in Grandison Square; but the visit was +prevented by Mrs. Rosser's increasing illness, and so the intercourse +between the two families fell off. + +Carrissima had not seen Bridget since their parting at the railway +station five years ago. Ought she to go and see her now? If she +refrained, might not people suspect some hidden motive? Her brother +Lawrence, for instance, who was apt to search for mysterious springs of +action, and who must not on any account be allowed to hit upon the true +one. + +No doubt Carrissima was sensitive and self-conscious; moreover, she was +jealous. She was, however, extremely curious also--curious to see for +herself how Bridget had developed--and in the end she made up her mind +to go to Golfney Place. She looked very small and bright when, a few +days later, she set forth, wearing the new set of furs, which were +certainly her most becoming apparel. She had hesitated whether the +March afternoon was really cold enough to justify their use, and before +reaching her destination came to the conclusion that it was not. + +But, regarding Bridget as possibly a rival, she wished to make her +bravest show. With her dark, wide-brimmed hat, her remarkably fair +hair, her fresh, clear complexion and her diminutive but piquantly +womanly figure, she assuredly need not fear any ordinary comparison. + +Golfney Place is a secluded thoroughfare, containing a few intensely +respectable-looking shops, an estate-agent's office, a church and some +superior lodging-houses. These, like the church, were all painted +white, and, indeed, some of them were at present receiving their fresh +spring coats. + +The door of Number 5 was opened by a middle-aged man, Mr. Miller, the +proprietor of the house, and indistinguishable in appearance from an +ordinary butler. + +"Miss Rosser?" said Carrissima, and, taking her up-stairs, he stopped +to ask her name on the first landing. + +"Miss Faversham," he announced, as she walked into the drawing-room, a +large, lofty room with three windows, rather ornately furnished, and +reminding Carrissima of various scenes on the stage. Before the +fireplace stood a sofa covered with cretonne of a florid pattern, and +from the middle of this Bridget rose. + +She was obviously formed to play havoc with the hearts of men, and +although she could scarcely be described as beautiful, she was no doubt +marvellously seductive. If her features were not regular, the ensemble +was delightful, even in the estimation of one who felt disposed to +criticize. Her face would have run to a point at the chin if this had +not been blunted by an entrancing dimple. Bridget's vivid +chestnut-coloured hair grew low over a somewhat wide forehead, while +her eyes were dark and curiously expressive. + +Without being conspicuously tall, she had the advantage of her guest by +several inches, although her figure might be less developed, or perhaps +it looked smaller because of her additional inches. She obviously +employed an excellent dressmaker, and if she had hitherto been +compelled to hide her light under a bushel, she had surely only to be +seen to conquer. The important question was: Had she already succeeded +in conquering Mark Driver? + +For an instant she stood gazing at Carrissima as if unable to believe +either her ears or her eyes; then with a slow, gliding movement, in +contrast with the other's more rapid, impulsive manner, she came +forward holding out both hands. + +"Why, it's Carrissima, after all these many, many years!" she +exclaimed, and without a moment's hesitation kissed her cheek, just as +she had done at parting that long time ago. "How nice of you to come," +she continued, still retaining one of her guest's hands, and leading +her to the sofa. "I suppose it was Mark who asked you," she said, as +they both sat down. + +"He didn't exactly ask me," returned Carrissima. "Of course I +shouldn't have known you were in London but for him. I met him at my +brother's the other evening." + +"Ah, that was the night he arrived so late for dinner," said Bridget. +"Did he get into the most dreadful scrape?" + +"Anyhow," was the answer, "I suppose he was able to start to Paris the +next morning, as I haven't heard to the contrary." + +"Oh yes," cried Bridget, "if he hadn't gone I should have seen him +here. Isn't it tiresome of him!" + +"What?" asked Carrissima. + +"No sooner coming back to London than off he must go the very next day. +He came to see me directly he returned from Yorkshire," Bridget +explained, "and--well, I happened to have a fit of the miserables. I +assure you I am not often taken that way. Mark was tremendously +nice--he always is, isn't he? He insisted that I should go out to +dinner and what could I do?" + +"Why, nothing but go," replied Carrissima, with the utmost cheerfulness. + +"Still," said Bridget, "he seemed quite worried about his +brother-in-law. I mustn't tell tales out of school, and Mr. Faversham +is your brother, isn't he? Won't you unfasten those furs," she +suggested. "You must find them rather warm to-day, although I'm +certain I should have put them on in spite of the temperature if they +were mine. Perfectly lovely! Do let me help you!" + +She turned on the wide sofa to face Carrissima and deftly unhooked the +furs, taking the end of the stole in her hands and pressing it against +her cheek. When the butler brought in the tea-tray, Bridget asked him +to move a small table on to the hearthrug, and as soon as he left the +room again she began to talk while pouring out the tea. + +"How often," she cried, "I have wondered whether I should ever see you +again during this earthly pilgrimage. Sugar?" she asked. "You +remember our dear old house and the delightful garden! Of course my +darling mother's illness had begun before you came to Crowborough. +Poor father was never really the same after her death." + +She paused, holding a cup and saucer in her hand, but turning her eyes +towards the window. Carrissima saw that they were moist when Bridget +began again. + +"We gave up the house because he couldn't rest long in any one place, +and yet he could never write at his best moving about. You know, +Carrissima, it was really a tragedy. He took such pains--writing and +re-writing, especially after he and I were left alone; but he knew he +wasn't reaching his own standard. He never said a word, but of course +I saw he was worrying himself to death. I have copies of all his +novels; they are over on that shelf," she said, turning towards a pair +of hanging shelves at the farther end of the room. "And there are +portfolios full of press cuttings. I used to cut them out and paste +them in for him. It seems like a dream to look back. You know I used +to think of you as ever so much older than myself, because you seemed +to be the mistress of the house." + +"Well," answered Carrissima, "I am not many months younger." + +"Ah! but now I regard you as quite a child in comparison." + +"That doesn't prevent me from being twenty-two," said Carrissima. + +"No, of course not, but the actual years are nothing. It's all that's +crowded into them--oh dear! I have had such experiences! During the +last few months of poor father's life we lived in an _appartement_ in +Paris, and afterwards I didn't know what to do or where to go, so I +kept it on for myself. I used to go to Ronseau's studio--you've heard +of Ronseau?--till he convinced me it wasn't of the slightest use to +persevere. Then I came to London and soon began to wish I hadn't. +Because I did know ever so many people in Paris, but over here I can't +tell you how deadly dull it was until I met Mark." + +"You must come and see me as soon as you can," suggested Carrissima. + +"Oh dear, yes," said Bridget. "Do let me fasten your furs!" she added, +as Carrissima rose from the sofa. "I shall return your visit as early +as if you were a royal personage. I shall love to come." + +"Number 13, Grandison Square," said Carrissima. "It is not very far, +and I am quite alone just now. I don't know whether you remember my +father----" + +"Very indistinctly," answered Bridget. + +"He is away at Church Stretton playing golf." + +"Then you are in the same unprotected condition as I am," suggested +Bridget. + +"Oh well, I have the advantage of a peculiarly attentive brother. +Lawrence has the firm and unalterable opinion that no woman under forty +is capable of looking after herself. During my father's absence he +generally pays me a visit once every twenty-four hours, either on his +way home from the Temple or after dinner. I shall expect you before +many days," said Carrissima, and Bridget insisted on accompanying her +down to the hall. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +BRIDGET AT GRANDISON SQUARE + +Carrissima walked back to Grandison Square, feeling not a whit less +jealous than she had set out. There seemed, it is true, something +about Bridget Rosser to which she was scarcely accustomed in her own +personal friends; something difficult to describe. It might be due to +an innate ingenuousness, or, in part, to the quasi-Bohemian life she +had probably lived during the last few years abroad. + +There seemed to be an absence of reticence; a kind of natural freedom +which assuredly had a charm of its own, although some persons might not +approve of it--Lawrence, for one! + +He came to Grandison Square the same evening, entering the drawing-room +still wearing his heavy overcoat. + +"A bitter wind has sprung up," he said, standing close to the fire. + +"What a pity you took the trouble to turn out in it," suggested +Carrissima, always rather inclined to resent his superintendence. + +"What have you been doing all day?" he asked. "You haven't given +Phoebe a look in." + +"I went to Golfney Place this afternoon," was the answer. + +"Golfney Place----" + +"To renew my acquaintance with Bridget," said Carrissima. + +"Quite unnecessary!" retorted Lawrence. + +"Far better if you had stayed away." + +"Why?" demanded Carrissima. + +"Phoebe suggested going," said Lawrence; "but I wouldn't allow it for a +moment." + +"It's certain," cried Carrissima, "that she is a standing example of +the way not to treat a husband. How ridiculous to form a prejudice +against any one you have never even seen." + +"If she had been the sort of woman I should like my wife to call upon," +said Lawrence, "she wouldn't have allowed Mark to see her so often. A +woman who lives alone! Why on earth couldn't you leave her to stew in +her own juice? I don't wish to see my brother-in-law make an idiot of +himself." + +"Anyhow," returned Carrissima, "it can't have been Mark's account that +set you against her." + +"Oh, of course," exclaimed Lawrence, "Mark would swallow anything." + +"It is his business in life," said Carrissima, with a laugh, "to make +other people swallow things, isn't it, Lawrence?" + +He went away dissatisfied, and the following Monday afternoon Bridget +Rosser paid her first visit to Number 13, Grandison Square. Although +her movements were even and unhurried, her appearance in her +out-of-door garments was conspicuous. The brim of her hat struck +Carrissima as being a shade wider than that of any one else, her dress +closer about the ankles, while yet she wore it without a trace of +anything that could be called vulgarity. + +"I should have come even earlier," she said, taking Carrissima's hand; +"but I only got back from Sandbay this morning. I have been staying +since Saturday with my aunts; the dearest little Dresden china aunts in +the world. They are my mother's sisters and they give me no peace. +You see, they are terribly Early Victorian. You were saying that your +brother insisted that no woman under forty is capable of looking after +herself. Well, Aunt Jane and Aunt Frances think honestly that I am +going to perdition as fast as I can." + +"I suppose," suggested Carrissima, "they would like you to live with +them?" + +"Oh dear! they are quite mad about it. You know everybody is mad about +something! They write every week, but I positively couldn't endure it. +Of course my father did his best to put me off, although I believe his +chief objection was that they had a hatred of tobacco." + +"Still," said Carrissima, "I don't suppose you are a confirmed smoker +and they might be good for you. I don't think I am Early Victorian, +but still----" + +"Oh, I know!" cried Bridget; "but fancy wasting any little sweetness +one may possess on the desert air of Sandbay. I should simply go +mad--stark, staring mad. Carrissima," she continued, "I suppose you +know heaps and heaps of people. So did I when my father was +alive--people who do things, whose names you read in the papers, who +think for themselves and make others follow their lead. Oh, I long to +be in the movement!" + +Rising slowly from her chair, and with perfect coolness, she took a +framed cabinet photograph from a table between the windows. + +"Is this Colonel Faversham?" she asked. "I remember him now quite +distinctly." + +The portrait showed a man of middle height, rather taller than +Lawrence, with much broader shoulders. His face had an almost +dissipated expression, and he wore a large, pointed moustache. His +hair was still plentiful, although it had been grey when Bridget last +saw him; his eyes were somewhat prominent, and he held himself +unusually erect. + +"How old is your father?" asked Bridget. + +"Sixty-five," was the answer. + +"He doesn't look so old!" + +"Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to hear you say that!" +cried Carrissima. "But the photograph was taken some years ago." + +"Have you only one brother?" asked Bridget. + +"Only one living. I had another brother and a sister. They came +between me and Lawrence, and died a long time ago." + +"I love looking at photographs," said Bridget, putting that of Colonel +Faversham back in its place. "I hope you don't mind--whose is this?" +she inquired, taking up another frame. + +"Oh, that is Jimmy!" cried Carrissima. + +"Why do you laugh?" said Bridget. + +"I really don't quite know. There's nothing very comical in his +appearance, is there? Only somehow one does laugh about him." + +"I think," said Bridget, "he is one of the pleasantest-looking men I +have ever seen." + +"Yes, Jimmy has a nice face," returned Carrissima. + +"Of course," Bridget continued, with her eyes still on the photograph, +"it isn't so distinctly handsome as Mark's." + +"Perhaps not," was the answer; "I thought you had seen him while we +were at Crowborough. Mr. Clynesworth. Although his name is Rupert +everybody has called him Jimmy since his school days." + +"I remember Miss Clynesworth," suggested Bridget. + +"His sister--or, rather, his half-sister. She might be his mother by +the way she tries to look after him." + +"Does he require a lot of looking after?" asked Bridget. + +"Oh, I don't know," said Carrissima. "He is one of those men who +somehow give you the impression they could do wonderful things, and if +they would. He is immensely rich and nice-looking, as you say, and +people do their best to spoil him. I won't insist that they have +succeeded. Anyhow, he is immensely good to Sybil. Her father was a +physician, and she lost her mother when she was a small child. When +she was about ten Doctor Clynesworth married again. His second wife +was very wealthy, and, to judge by her portrait at Upper Grosvenor +Street, she must have been a beautiful woman. All her money went to +her only son--Jimmy, but Doctor Clynesworth had very little to leave to +Sybil. Jimmy insisted that she should continue to live at the house in +which her father had practised, and he is immensely fond of her +although they are about as different as any two persons can possibly +be. Should you," asked Carrissima, "like me to ask her to come and see +you?" + +"Do you think she would?" said Bridget, returning the photograph to the +table. + +"I am certain she would be delighted, especially if I explain that you +have no one to chaperon you," replied Carrissima, whereupon Bridget +smiled as if she were quite convinced of her ability to take care of +herself. On saying "Good-bye" Carrissima made a point of urging her to +come to Grandison Square as often as she felt inclined, and from that +time forth she regarded Miss Rosser with curiously mingled sensations. + +While it proved difficult to refrain from liking the girl, with her +frank joyousness, her youthful zest in life, the possession of such +qualities furnished an additional excuse for that jealousy which still +dominated Carrissima's waking thoughts. Without forming any definite +design, the idea certainly occurred to her that Mark might come to +occupy a smaller space in Bridget's sphere of things, if only she knew +a few more of his kind. + +The following afternoon Carrissima, according to her promise, went to +Upper Grosvenor Street, where lived Sybil Clynesworth and, when he +pleased, Jimmy. He had, however, a country house at Atlinghurst, and +when he stayed in London sometimes preferred a room at one of his +clubs, to that which his sister always kept in readiness. + +On reaching the house Carrissima was disappointed to hear that Sybil +had gone away the previous morning. + +"When do you expect her back?" asked Carrissima. + +"I have no idea," said the butler; "but Mr. Clynesworth might know." + +"Mr. Clynesworth is in London then?" cried Carrissima, and in fact, he +came out of the dining-room on the left of the hall the next moment. + +The Favershams, the Drivers and the Clynesworths were old friends. +They had known each other from their earliest years, and the three boys +had gone to the same preparatory school at Brighton. Sybil, +considerably the oldest of the group, tried still to hope that Jimmy +would marry Carrissima, although for that matter, she would have +rejoiced to see him the husband of any woman whom she could love. + +Jimmy Clynesworth was about thirty years of age; a little younger than +Lawrence Faversham, a little older than Mark Driver. In height he was +between them, a little above the average; not a tall man, certainly not +short, well built, but not noticeably broad-shouldered, and wearing +this afternoon a rough, darkish tweed suit, fitting him rather loosely. +In fact, you could not imagine Jimmy tightly buttoned up or putting on +an uncomfortably high collar, or doing anything solely for the sake of +appearances. + +He had a somewhat round face, with straight dark hair and an almost +downy-looking moustache, which barely hid his lips, although it was not +brushed upwards in the mode of the moment. His eyes were rather far +apart and he was characterized by an appearance of perfect health and +equability of temperament. + +"Hullo, Carrissima!" he exclaimed, coming forward to the door with his +hand outstretched, "what a stroke of luck!" + +"I wanted to see Sybil," she explained. + +"She has gone to the Ramsbottoms," said Jimmy. "Old Lady Ramsbottom +was taken ill. She sent for Sybil yesterday, as people do when they're +seedy, you know. Won't you come in?" he added. + +"No, thank you, Jimmy. I mustn't stay," returned Carrissima. + +"Now, that's sheer conventionality," he insisted. "You would really +like to come in and have a talk, but for the melancholy reason that I'm +alone, you're afraid." + +"Oh, wise young judge!" said Carrissima. + +"Well, if you're obstinate I'll walk back with you," he suggested, +taking a bowler hat from the stand, while the butler handed his gloves +and cane. "I've nothing in the world to do," he added, as they walked +away from the house. + +"You never have, Jimmy!" + +"No, I'm the most dreadful waster," he admitted. "I've just been +reading a penny pamphlet--by one of the labour members, and upon my +word, it made me squirm like one o'clock. Did you want to see Sybil +about anything of cosmic importance?" Jimmy asked. + +"Oh dear, no," said Carrissima, as they crossed the park. "Only to ask +her to call on a girl she met when we were staying at Crowborough some +years ago." + +"What's she like--pretty, by any chance?" + +"Very pretty," answered Carrissima. + +"Then I'm your man. I can go instead if you give me the address, and +there's no time like the present." + +"Jimmy, you must try not to be ridiculous," said Carrissima. "For some +reason you can't have seen her during the few days you stayed with us." + +"What is her name?" + +"Bridget Rosser. Her father was a novelist----" + +"Oh!" cried Jimmy, "you mean David Rosser. I remember that the colonel +introduced me; besides, I happened to run up against him again a few +months later. A man who never got his due. David Rosser had a style, +you know: a little precious, perhaps, if that's a drawback. So you +know his daughter! I will see that Sybil goes to see Miss Rosser. +Then," said Jimmy, "I shall have a look in." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +COLONEL FAVERSHAM + +Colonel Faversham came home on Wednesday evening, the day after +Carrissima's visit to Upper Grosvenor Street. She was sitting alone in +the drawing-room, doubtful as to the precise date of his return, when +she suddenly became aware of his presence in the house. + +Colonel Faversham was apt to be noisy and blusterous. He had a loud +voice, a rather demonstrative cough, he walked with a heavy tread, and, +in fact, was generally assertive. Carrissima, not wishing to fail in +her filial duty, went down-stairs to meet him in the hall, as the +butler was helping him off with his thick overcoat. + +"Ah, Carrissima!" he exclaimed at the top of his voice, "I'm sorry I +didn't wire; but, to tell you the truth, I forgot all about it. Well, +how are you--quite well? Glad to see me back again, eh?" + +"Very glad indeed," was the dutiful answer. + +"That's all right. I've had dinner--if you can call it dining in the +train. Where's the best fire to be found?" + +"You may as well come to the drawing-room," said Carrissima. + +"Good!" replied the colonel, and then turned to the butler. "Knight, +I'll have some soda and whisky." + +He accompanied Carrissima up-stairs, blowing out his red cheeks and +beating his cold hands together with considerable energy. Going to the +fire, he stood on the hearthrug warming his palms and making +perfunctory inquiries after Lawrence and Phoebe and their child. + +"How do you think I'm looking?" he demanded, suddenly facing Carrissima. + +"Splendid," she answered. "I don't think I have ever seen you looking +better." + +"Well, I never felt better," he exclaimed, putting back his shoulders +and puffing out his chest. "Never in the whole course of my life. +Nobody at the hotel would believe I was anything like my age--fifty or +fifty-five at the outside. Upon my soul, I can scarcely believe it +myself. I can give a start to a good many youngsters yet. Not too +much soda-water, Knight," he added, when the whisky and the syphon were +brought in. "What's been happening while I've been away?" he asked, +alone again with Carrissima. + +"I wonder," she suggested, "whether you remember our holiday at +Crowborough some years ago?" + +"Remember it--of course I remember it. Do you think I'm in my dotage. +You make an immense mistake. My memory was never better. I will back +it against yours any day." + +"Then you haven't forgotten Mr. Rosser----" + +"Rosser!" cried Colonel Faversham. "A shortish man with a red beard +and an invalid wife: wrote twaddling novels. I tried to read one of +them--couldn't get through it. He played a devilish good game all the +same. What about him?" + +"I have met his daughter," said Carrissima, and, in reply to her +father's demand for further information, she told him all she knew +about Bridget; how that she had made Mark Driver late for dinner; how +that, after some dubitation, a visit had been paid to Golfney Place, +and duly returned. + +On learning that Bridget was good to look upon and only a few months +older that Carrissima, Colonel Faversham blinked his eyes and fingered +his large grey moustache. He took a cigar from his case by and by, +Carrissima trying to stifle her yawns while he talked about golf and +described some of his hands at bridge. To illustrate his skill, he +made her bring some cards, and, sweeping clear a space on the table, +kept her up until past midnight. + +Colonel Faversham always came to breakfast with brisk and almost +aggressive robustness. He had an enormous appetite, and when this was +at last satisfied, it was his custom to retire with the newspaper to +his smoking-room until eleven o'clock. The morning was so bright that +he began to regret his return to London, although it was true that he +could reach his favourite golf-course in three-quarters of an hour in a +taxi-cab. There, indeed, Colonel Faversham spent the most of his +waking hours, usually finishing up with a couple of hours' bridge +before returning by rail to Grandison Square in time for dinner. Then +he was occasionally irritable, and although he would never admit that +he felt tired, Carrissima had her own opinion. + +On the Saturday after his return from Church Stretton, however, he +stayed at home, and as he sat smoking after an excellent luncheon, +Carrissima came in wearing her hat and jacket. + +"I'm going to see Phoebe," she explained, in the act of fastening her +gloves. "I don't suppose I shall be home to tea unless you want me." + +"Want you!" was the answer. "Good heavens, no! Why in the world +should I want you. Do you imagine I can't feed myself? Thank +goodness, I'm not in my second childhood yet. Besides, I shall most +likely have tea at the club. What a day, Carrissima! What a day!" + +Having finished his cigar about a quarter of an hour later, Colonel +Faversham went to his dressing-room, where he spent a few minutes +brushing his hair with great vigour and twisting his moustache to a +point. On going down to the hall again, he noticed that the street +door stood open, and that Knight was talking to some one on the +threshold. As the colonel took his top hat from the table, he saw that +the visitor was a young lady who looked admirably in harmony with the +spring season. She wore a lightish grey cloth frock and a wide-brimmed +hat, beneath which a vast quantity of chestnut-coloured hair +conspicuously appeared. + +He reached the open door as she was on the point of turning away, but, +seeing him, she hesitated. + +"Miss Rosser, colonel," said Knight, standing between the pair. + +"Good-afternoon, Miss Rosser," cried Colonel Faversham. "Pray come in! +You wish to see Carrissima! I assure you she will be immensely +disappointed if you refuse to wait. I may mention that I had the +pleasure of knowing your father." + +"Oh, I remember you perfectly," she replied. "As well as if it were +yesterday." + +"Come this way, come this way," he insisted, replacing his hat on the +table as she entered the hall. "Carrissima would never forgive me. +She was talking about you before I had been in the house ten +minutes----" + +"But you were just going out," she expostulated. "You mustn't let me +take you up-stairs again." + +"Stairs are nothing to me," he said. "I could climb a mountain. I +have climbed many a one before to-day, and I hope I shall again. What +delightful weather!" he continued, as they reached the drawing-room. +"It makes one feel quite--quite capable of anything." + +She sat down, while the colonel talked about Crowborough and David +Rosser; remembering whose vocation, he realized the desirability of +giving the conversation a bookish turn. While he was remarking upon +some of the most recent publications--quoted from advertisements, for +he seldom opened a book--Knight and a small footman brought in the tea +equipage. Colonel Faversham invited Bridget to officiate, and told +himself how delectable she looked as, half-shyly, she passed his cup +and saucer. + +"You know, Colonel Faversham," she said, "I cannot help feeling +immensely guilty." + +"A libel," he protested. "I have never seen a more transparently +innocent face in the whole course of my life." + +"Still, I am certain I have kept you from going to your club or +somewhere. Of course I am duly grateful. Carrissima said I might come +here whenever I felt too lonely." + +"My dear Miss Rosser," said Colonel Faversham, "I am afraid it must be +a rather dull life you're leading. But it will be entirely your own +fault if ever you find yourself bored in future. Carrissima has no end +of friends, and hers shall be yours. Then there's my daughter-in-law! +As for books, my library was left to me by an uncle who had nothing +better to do than to read from morning till night. You must allow me +to send you a suitable selection." + +When Carrissima came home, a little later, she raised her eyebrows on +seeing Bridget Rosser presiding at the tea-table, with Colonel +Faversham seated rather close by her side. As he began to explain his +good fortune in meeting the visitor at the door, Carrissima told +herself that she knew exactly how things would turn out! + +The truth was that Colonel Faversham had always been somewhat +dangerously susceptible. Lawrence could never feel certain that his +father was too old to think of marrying again. Carrissima knew that +for the next few days he would talk of nobody but Bridget; that he +would lend her books, and perhaps even express a wish to invite her to +dine. He would on every opportunity pay her extravagant compliments +and make himself generally ridiculous; then he would begin to forget +her existence and fall back into his ordinary routine of bridge and +golf until another attractive face arrested his attention. + +Although he sang Miss Rosser's praises loudly that Saturday afternoon, +and spoke of her frequently on Sunday and during the next few evenings, +Carrissima scarcely suspected that the colonel had met Bridget since +her visit to Grandison Square. She was certainly astounded when, going +to see her small nephew one afternoon a week or so later, she found +that she had run her head into a hornets' nest. + +"You have done a fine thing!" said Lawrence. "That is the worst of +you." + +"Oh, do please tell me what is the best, or at least the medium, for a +change," was the answer. + +"My dear Carrie----" + +"If you call me Carrie you will drive me mad," said Carrissima. + +"I fancy you must be," exclaimed her brother, standing on the hearthrug +and looking as solemn as the judge he hoped some day to become. One +hand was thrust between the buttons of his morning coat, the other +clasped its lapelle, his head was flung back, and one foot rested on +the fender. "An immense pity," he added, "that you can never mind your +own business." + +Carrissima skilfully mimicked his attitude. + +"May it please you, m'lud, and gentlemen of the jury," she said, +causing Lawrence hastily to change his pose, and Phoebe to look a +little scandalized. + +"There's a time for everything," he insisted, with a blush. "Let me +tell you this is no laughing matter." + +"You should not make yourself look so ridiculous," said Carrissima. +"Why should you everlastingly be retained for the prosecution?" + +"You would certainly require a clever defence," returned Lawrence. "A +fine thing you have done by your unnecessary interference." + +"But what am I accused of?" she demanded. "What is all the fuss about?" + +"As I was walking home on Saturday," he explained, "I turned up the +Haymarket. The people were just going in to the matinee----" + +"I mustn't forget I want to go to the Haymarket," said Carrissima. + +"Do, for goodness' sake," he expostulated, "try to fix your mind on one +thing at a time." + +"It depends on its nature," said Carrissima. + +"Whom should I see getting out of a taxi," cried Lawrence, "but the +colonel and some woman." + +"My dear Lawrence," was the answer, "knowing father as well as you +pretend to know everybody, surely you cannot imagine there's anything +very unusual about that." + +"Carrissima," interposed Phoebe, "I really think from Lawrence's +description that she must have been Bridget Rosser." + +"Oh, but surely not!" + +"I think it was," Phoebe insisted. + +"He has only seen her once," said Carrissima. "That was on Saturday +week. She would scarcely----" + +"Let me ask you one question!" cried Lawrence. + +"Oh, a dozen," said Carrissima. + +"How do you know that was the only time he saw the woman?" + +"Of course, I can't say that I know for certain," she admitted. + +"There you are! You don't know. You don't even believe. You simply +jump to a conclusion. You have no means of knowing. Depend upon it, +he has been at Golfney Place over and over again. We shall be +fortunate if he doesn't end by marrying her." + +"Who is jumping to a conclusion now?" said Carrissima. + +"Lawrence dear," suggested Phoebe, quite humbly, "I understood you were +afraid she might marry Mark. After all, she can't very well make +victims of both him and your father." + +"No, but she may like to have two strings to her bow. She may prefer a +bird in the hand, and if he should escape, there's Mark to fall back +upon." + +"After all," said Carrissima, "you have not even seen Bridget. You +don't know she has the slightest desire to marry anybody." + +"She is simply an adventuress," was the answer. "A pretty woman on the +make." + +Although Carrissima had little reason to be prejudiced in Miss Rosser's +favour, she was the possessor of an elementary sense of justice, and, +moreover, it was always a satisfaction to contradict her brother. + +"I don't admit you have any right to say that," she protested. "I saw +a great deal of her at Crowborough----" + +"Five years ago!" + +"From what I have seen since," Carrissima continued, "I believe you +have found a mare's nest. You seem to forget that father is +sixty-five." + +"Ah, yes, but he doesn't begin to realize the fact," said Lawrence. +"He thinks he is quite capable of acting like an ordinary man of half +his age. If you had tried to provide your friend with an easy prey, +you couldn't have gone a surer way to work." + +Carrissima, however, remained still unconvinced. She walked home to +Grandison Square with the inclination to scoff at her brother's fears, +although it was true that she was beginning to wish that Bridget had +never crossed Colonel Faversham's path. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CONCERNING BIRTHDAYS + +"Carrissima!" said Colonel Faversham, as he rose from the +breakfast-table a day or two after her conversation with Lawrence and +Phoebe. + +"Yes, father," she answered. + +"I have been thinking that it is high time we asked Miss Rosser to dine +with us." + +He was standing by the window holding the morning paper in his hands, +and as he spoke he raised it so that Carrissima could not see his face. + +"Oh, but do you really think that is necessary?" she answered, and +crushing the paper into a shapeless mass, the colonel turned upon his +daughter quite fiercely. + +Of course he was convinced that there could be nothing in the least +ridiculous in his behaviour! A man, as they say, is as old as he +feels, and especially during the last fortnight Colonel Faversham had +felt almost a boy again. The spring was in his blood! Moreover, he +flattered himself that he had not begun to look old! Still, he was +sensitive lest Carrissima should fancy he was making an ass of himself, +and, as usual at such times, he began to bluster. + +"Necessary!" he shouted, growing dangerously red in the face. "If it +comes to that it isn't necessary we should dine at all. Most of us eat +a great deal too much. Anyhow, it is very desirable that Miss Rosser +should be treated with common courtesy. Besides, I wish it. That, I +imagine, ought to be enough! We don't want a crowd or anything +elaborate. No infernal fuss or ceremony. Just a family party: just +Lawrence and his wife. They have never seen Miss Rosser!" + +"Oh yes," said Carrissima. "Lawrence has seen her." + +"She told me only the other day that she hadn't met him. I wondered +why on earth you hadn't introduced her to Phoebe!" + +"Lawrence," Carrissima explained, "saw Bridget going into the Haymarket +Theatre with you the other afternoon." + +"Good heavens!" exclaimed Colonel Faversham, stamping about the room, +"it has come to this! I mustn't go to the play without begging my +children's permission. I haven't a scrap of individuality of my own +left! I am compelled to ask Lawrence before I move a step!" + +"Not at all," said Carrissima. "Only I seem to recollect your telling +me you were going to play at bridge at the club that Saturday +afternoon." + +"And mayn't a man change his mind, I should like to know!" + +"In time to book seats," suggested Carrissima. + +"No sarcasm, if you please," was the answer. "I won't allow it. I +simply won't allow it in my house," he added, clenching his fist and +bringing it down heavily on the breakfast-table so that the cups and +saucers rattled. + +"Oh well, father," said Carrissima, "there's not the least use in +getting angry, you know." + +"I am not angry," cried Colonel Faversham, rubbing the side of his hand. + +"I don't know what you would call it!" + +"I may have been a little vehement," he replied. "No wonder. I make a +simple suggestion, and surely I have a right to expect my daughter to +adopt it." + +"If Bridget is to be asked to dine," said Carrissima, with a sigh, "I +think we ought to invite some one outside our own family." + +"Am I the master here, or am I not?" demanded Colonel Faversham. "Very +well! You will write to Phoebe to-day. Get her and Lawrence to fix an +evening--this week if possible--and then ask Miss Rosser." + +"Lawrence is not likely to come," suggested Carrissima. + +"Why not?" + +"Anyhow, he refused to allow Phoebe to go to Golfney Place!" + +"You will kindly do as I tell you," said the colonel. "Lawrence has +more sense than you give him credit for." + +Carrissima was compelled to admit that her father had a right to act as +he pleased. She wrote to Phoebe the same morning, and Lawrence, +reading the letter on his return from the Temple, at once declared that +nothing on earth should induce him to go and meet "that woman"! + +Having dined, however, and smoked a cigarette, he began to take a more +tolerant view of the situation. Colonel Faversham had money to +bequeath! As Lawrence told Phoebe, it might be their duty to pocket +their feelings and consider Victor's future. + +Colonel Faversham had the satisfaction of hearing from Bridget's own +lips that she should be delighted to dine at his house. He seemed to +live only for Bridget during these days. His golf was neglected, and +he had come near to a quarrel with one of his oldest friends for +revoking twice in one evening's bridge. + +Whatever he did, wherever he went, his thoughts insisted on wandering +to Golfney Place. Although he longed to shower expensive gifts upon +Bridget, he durst not at present go beyond flowers, and it was only +after much persuasion that she consented to let him take her to the +Haymarket Theatre. Whilst he revelled in her society and his hope of +being permitted to enjoy it uninterruptedly for the remainder of his +days ran high, he dreaded to imagine what Lawrence would have to say on +the subject. + +Colonel Faversham felt confident that his son would prove "nasty," and +even Carrissima could scarcely be expected to feel pleased by the +prospect of a step-mother only a few months older than herself. The +colonel found himself between two fires: longing on the one hand for +the time to come when he might discreetly ask Bridget to be his wife, +and fearing, on the other hand, the announcement of his good news! + +It is true that the rose was not entirely free from thorns. In his +less cheerful moods he could not regard Mark Driver as other than a +possibly disturbing factor. Bridget made no secret of the frequency +and gratification of his former visits to Golfney Place, with the +result that Colonel Faversham wondered occasionally whether she looked +upon himself rather too paternally. He would then puff out his chest, +tug his moustache and make various other efforts to convince her that +he was still in the prime of life. + +Nevertheless there hung persistently in the background the tragedy of +his years! He might upon occasion strike one as a comic figure, and of +course he saw no reason why he should not live to be a hundred. An +exceptional age, no doubt, but then he was an exceptional man, as +perhaps every man appears to himself. But Colonel Faversham was not +already without warnings which he would not admit for the world. In +his desire to convince himself that he was as robust as ever, he +continued to take the same amount of exercise as he had enjoyed twenty +years earlier. No one knew how weary the evenings found him, and, +besides, there was that increasing stiffness of his joints. + +He was particularly eager that Bridget should create a favourable +impression on Lawrence, as indeed she could scarcely fail to do. +Carrissima, notwithstanding a lamentable sense of inhospitality, when +the evening arrived found it on the whole rather amusing. Her brother +entered the drawing-room at Grandison Square with his head higher in +the air than ever, while Phoebe looked as usual serenely pretty and +contented. There was Bridget Rosser with her beautiful shoulders bare, +with her piquant face, her glorious hair, obviously bent upon enjoyment. + +Lawrence took her in to dinner, and Phoebe certainly thought that she +had deliberately set herself to captivate him. So did the colonel, but +Carrissima made a valiant effort to do her guest justice. It really +seemed too paltry to be critical because Mark admired her. In +Carrissima's opinion Bridget was not exerting herself to make a +favourable impression either on Lawrence or his father. No such effort +was necessary! Nature had anticipated any endeavours of her own. With +her face and figure it must be positively difficult not to please any +man with eyes in his head. Her curiously childlike ingenuousness was +too perfect to be counterfeited. Bridget charmed because she must. + +When she referred to the report of a recent lawsuit in which Lawrence +had admittedly increased his already growing reputation, Carrissima +smiled to see him unbend, although she might feel inclined to frown +when she noticed that Colonel Faversham's eyes scarcely left Bridget's +face until she rose from her chair to follow her hostess up-stairs. + +In the drawing-room, while the men were smoking, she inquired after +Phoebe's boy. She declared she was "so fond of children" in a tone +which compelled credence. She wished to know the colour of Victor's +eyes and hair; she listened to Phoebe's marvellous stories of his +precocity without the slightest sign of scepticism or boredom. + +"He is going to have a party of his own next week," said his mother. + +"Beginning early," returned Bridget, as the door opened and Lawrence +and the colonel came in. + +"What's that, what's that?" demanded Colonel Faversham, crossing the +room to Bridget's side. + +"I was telling Miss Rosser," Phoebe explained, "that Victor is going to +have a party. Eight children all under three." + +"Good heavens!" said the colonel. + +"I was wondering whether you would care to come and see them," +suggested Phoebe, and she would have liked to invite the sympathetic +Bridget, only that she felt certain Lawrence would disapprove. + +"No, thank you, Phoebe, no, thank you," was the prompt reply. "Still, +you needn't be afraid. I shall not forget his birthday. You'll see!" + +"Oh, then it is Victor's birthday!" cried Bridget. + +"On Tuesday," said Phoebe. + +"How old will he be?" + +"Two," returned his delighted mother, and Bridget leaned back in her +chair with a profound sigh. + +"Oh dear," she murmured, "and I shall actually be twenty-three on +Wednesday!" + +"Now what are you going to do to celebrate the occasion?" demanded +Colonel Faversham. + +"Let me see," said Bridget; "I shall breakfast alone, have lunch alone, +tea alone and dinner in the same delightful company. How different it +used to be when we lived at Crowborough! The day was a kind of +festival. Before I was grown up we always had a primrose party." + +Carrissima could not refrain from looking at her sympathetically. +Although her lips were smiling, her eyes seemed not a little pitiful. +It was impossible not to like the girl, and, moreover, if it were +granted that she was (as Lawrence insisted) manoeuvring for Colonel +Faversham, it seemed to follow that there must be less fear for Mark! +Perhaps, in some occult, subconscious way, this unbidden idea may have +quickened Carrissima's regard, and in any case she deprecated the +lonely birthday, forming a small benevolent scheme of her own for its +celebration. In the first place, she determined to send Bridget a +present, and then she would go to Golfney Place during the afternoon +and take her out to tea. A modest programme, but still better than +nothing. + +On Tuesday afternoon Carrissima was, naturally, bound to Phoebe and +Victor, but during the morning she made her way to Donaldson's, the +jeweller's, in Old Bond Street, where her family had dealt for many +years. Lawrence went there for presents for his wife; Colonel +Faversham (who, to do him justice, was generous in this respect) never +went anywhere else at Christmas time or on Carrissima's birthday. + +She had not by any means made up her mind what to buy, and, indeed, in +Carrissima's eyes shopping was always an elaborate rite. She stood for +a few minutes gazing in at the tempting window, and entering presently, +began to inspect various trays of rings and brooches, although she had +no intention to purchase anything of the kind. During the process Mr. +Donaldson, who had known her from childhood, came to the assistance of +the salesman and talked about the weather. At last a silver card-case +was selected. + +"I wonder," said Carrissima, "whether it would be possible to have it +engraved by to-morrow morning." + +"I think that can be managed," returned Mr. Donaldson. + +"You might send it to Golfney Place with my card," suggested +Carrissima, taking one from her case. + +"It shall be there quite early, madam," said the salesman, making a +note in a long, slim book. + +At the moment Carrissima scarcely noticed the significance of the fact +that he appeared already to know the name of the recipient and the +number of her house. He had certainly written "Miss Rosser, 5----" +before Carrissima had time to give him the address! + +"The initials are B----" + +But he had scribbled "B. R." in his book while yet the sentence was +incomplete. + +"How did you know?" she demanded eagerly. + +"I beg your pardon, madam!" said the salesman, whilst Mr. Donaldson +drew watchfully nearer. + +"You wrote down the initials before I told you what they were!" she +exclaimed. + +"I think not," said Mr. Donaldson hastily. "I think you are making a +mistake!" + +She knew she had done nothing of the kind. She knew that Colonel +Faversham must have been at the jeweller's before her this morning; +that he had selected something to commemorate Bridget's birthday; +something upon which also her initials were to be engraved. + +"After all," she said, "I think you shall send the card-case to +Grandison Square to-morrow morning." + +Carrissima paid the bill, but in the reaction of her feelings she +doubted whether she should give Bridget a present after all. It began +to look as if there were some justification for Lawrence's suspicions, +and for the first time she experienced serious fears for the future. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE EXCURSION + +Carrissima could not make up her mind. When she set forth to Charteris +Street to help in the entertainment of Phoebe's extremely juvenile +guests, she was determined not to go near Golfney Place the following +day. Seeing her amongst the children no one would have imagined that +she had a sorrow in the world; she was the life and soul of the +youthful party, and finally returned to Grandison Square in a +becomingly dishevelled condition in time for dinner. + +The following morning Colonel Faversham went to the hall at eleven +o'clock, wearing a flower in his buttonhole. Carrissima accompanying +him dutifully to the door, remarked that he had a new top hat. + +"Do you think it suits me?" he asked, turning to face her. "Not too +much brim, Carrissima?" + +"It looks a trifle small," she answered. + +"Small--nonsense! A man doesn't want a hat to come down over his eyes. +I'm not a fogy yet, I hope." + +"Why, of course not," she exclaimed. "Still, you will have to hold it +on in the wind." + +"Anyhow, that's better than using infernal pins that are a danger to +the community," said Colonel Faversham. "I'll tell you what: next time +I choose a hat I'll get you to come with me." + +"I suppose you will be home to lunch," she suggested, telling herself +she was shamefully cunning. But she could not help suspecting that he +was off on some jaunt with Bridget, and no doubt she felt a little +bitter about it. + +"Shall I?" he answered, with a laugh. "Don't take too much for +granted. I may get a snack at the club. Anyhow, you had better not +wait." + +She understood that he did not intend to return and wondered how she +should dispose of her silver card-case. In no event would she go near +Golfney Place that day! At about noon, however, it arrived from +Donaldson's in a cardboard box, and really seemed too pretty to be +wasted. There, too, were Bridget's initials, neatly engraved on its +face, and, perhaps, after all, Colonel Faversham was reckoning without +his guest. Miss Rosser might refuse to accept his present, whatever it +might be--Carrissima felt very curious to know! She might decline to +go out with him, and then her birthday would be spent in utter +loneliness. Carrissima pictured her with melancholy reminiscences of +her father and mother. Because whatever the girl's faults might be, +she was certainly not lacking in natural affection. Surely some +allowances ought to be made for the circumstances of the case. +Carrissima was excellent at making allowances for people! She was one +of those tiresome, inconsistent young women who remain blind to the +teachings of reason and experience, and ever find some remnants of good +in the rag-bags of humanity. + +Bridget had lost her mother when she was eighteen! She had knocked +about with her father for several years since. Of course she ought not +to have encouraged Mark's visits night after night, as doubtless she +had done; but, then, she may have had the intelligence to see that Mark +was a man in a thousand--in a thousand! Mark was a man in a million! + +In the end Carrissima left Grandison Square at a few minutes before +four o'clock that afternoon, and having rung the bell at Number 5, +Golfney Place, she was crushed to hear from Miller that Bridget had +been out since a quarter to twelve. + +"Oh!" said Carrissima, ashamed of her own artfulness, "I suppose she +went with Colonel Faversham?" + +"Yes," returned Miller. + +"Do you know where they have gone?" asked Carrissima. + +"Colonel Faversham told the chauffeur to drive to Richmond." + +"To Richmond--thank you," said Carrissima. "I will come another day." +Then she turned away with the card-case still in her hand and a heavier +weight at her heart. She wished she had never gone to Crowborough that +summer five years ago! Very devoutly she wished that Mark Driver had +not visited the Old Masters' Exhibition. She had not walked far on her +way home when she saw Jimmy Clynesworth coming towards her, and thought +it rather early in the year for him to be wearing a straw hat in London. + +Of course he stopped to speak. Jimmy was not the man to allow any one +he knew to pass by, although for once in a way Carrissima would sooner +have avoided the encounter. + +"Have you heard from Sybil lately?" she asked. + +"Oh yes, she's still with old Lady Ramsbottom--enjoying herself to the +top of her bent, no doubt! You may be certain Sybil's having a +rattling good time! She always revels in illness. Goodness knows when +I shall see her again. Where are you bound for?" asked Jimmy, as +Carrissima showed signs of impatience. + +"For home and tea," was the answer. + +"Let me give you some," he urged, walking on by her side. + +"No, thank you, Jimmy!" + +"Carrissima," he said, with a glance at her profile, "what in the +world's the matter?" + +"Why, nothing, of course!" + +"Oh yes, there's something," he insisted. "I flatter myself I'm good +at reading faces, you know, and yours is always interesting--one never +has to read between the lines." + +"Does that mean I wear my heart on my sleeve?" she demanded. + +"Naturally you fancy you're inscrutable," said Jimmy, with a laugh. +"We all do. Come now, suppose you tell me what it is!" + +"What would be the use--if there were anything?" + +"You might enable me to do you a good turn! If I couldn't cure your +woe I could possibly make you forget it. Besides, people do tell me +things. You would be astonished to hear what confidences are poured +into my ears." + +"Is that because you're sympathetic, or simply because you're rich?" +suggested Carrissima. + +"What's that you're carrying?" he asked, with a shrug. + +"A card-case," she replied. + +"May I look?" he said, holding out his hand. After a momentary +hesitation she let him take it, whereupon he had no scruple about +opening the box. "Hullo! who is B. R.?" he demanded. + +"Nobody you know, Jimmy!" + +"Bridget Rosser!" he exclaimed. "You see what a memory I have. Is +to-day any special occasion?" + +"Her birthday," said Carrissima. + +"How old is she?" + +"Twenty-three!" + +"What a delectable age! The same as your own. But if you're taking +Miss Rosser a present," he added, "how is it you are on the way home?" + +"Jimmy, you make me tired," said Carrissima. "I wish you wouldn't ask +so many questions." + +"I can't help it," he replied. "An inquiring turn of mind, you know. +I haven't forgotten that Sybil is to pay your friend a visit directly +she gets back." + +"Indeed, there is not the slightest necessity," said Carrissima. + +"Hullo! so you've changed your mind?" + +"I suppose that is allowable." + +"Where does she live?" Jimmy persisted. + +"Wild horses wouldn't drag her address from me!" cried Carrissima, +laughing quite cheerfully, "and kindly give me back the card-case." + +He came to a standstill close to Colonel Faversham's house as he put it +back in her hand. + +"Now, I'm off," he said. "That's all I was waiting for." + +"What?" asked Carrissima. + +"To hear you laugh again." + +"Jimmy," she said, "I sometimes wonder whether your inveterate +cheerfulness is the sign of a shallow mind!" + +"Oh well, you see, it's one of the few useful things I can do," he +answered. "To swing a light about." + +"Still, it isn't always safe to go full speed ahead," she suggested. + +"Oh dear, no," said Jimmy. "We all have to put the brakes hard on now +and then; but the fact remains that a coward dies a hundred deaths, you +know." + +Carrissima entered the house a moment after he walked away, and going +to the drawing-room sat down to tea just as she was in her hat and +jacket. + +Could it be possible that her father seriously thought of marriage? In +that event, the whole course of her life would be altered! She could +never consent to stay at home if Bridget ruled the roast! Looking at +her watch, presently, Carrissima saw that it was about the time when +Lawrence could usually be found in the bosom of his family, and going +down-stairs again she let herself out of the house. On reaching +Charteris Street she saw him with Victor on his knees, whilst Phoebe on +hers looked at the boy with anxious eyes. + +He looked pale and fretful in consequence of yesterday's party, and +when his nurse had carried him out of the room to an accompaniment of +noisy expostulations, Carrissima turned to her brother-- + +"Lawrence," she said, "I am really in the most dreadful state of mind. +I am beginning to wonder whether you could possibly have been right, +after all." + +"Thank you," answered Lawrence stiffly. "But, of course, a prophet is +not without honour----" + +"Yes, I know," Carrissima interrupted. "It's about Bridget." + +"What has she been doing?" asked Phoebe. + +"You remember she told us that to-day would be her birthday?" + +"The most barefaced hint I ever heard in my life," said Lawrence. + +"Well, I thought I would take her a small present----" + +"A pity you can't hold yourself in a little more," was the answer. +"You must gush!" + +"Anyhow," Carrissima continued quite humbly, "I went to +Donaldson's--Phoebe, I saw the duckiest little opal brooch. I was half +tempted----" + +"For goodness' sake get along with the story!" cried Lawrence fretfully. + +"I bought a card-case--silver," said Carrissima. + +"Gun metal would have done just as well," suggested Lawrence. + +"When I asked the man to engrave Bridget's initials on it," said +Carrissima, "he knew what they were without being told. He knew her +number in Golfney Place too!" + +"Ah, then father had been there before you!" exclaimed Lawrence. + +"Yes," answered Carrissima, "and he has taken her to Richmond to lunch!" + +"What did I tell you?" said Lawrence. + +"Oh, please don't tell me again," entreated Carrissima. "What is the +use?" + +"A pity you didn't think of all this," he persisted, "before you took +the woman up. I knew what she was. I told Phoebe." + +"What nonsense," said Carrissima. "As if any human being could have +imagined she would dream of marrying father that night Mark told us he +had met her again." + +"Well," cried Lawrence in his most weighty tone, "we may see something +when Mark comes back from Paris. Odd that he hasn't written to Phoebe +once since he went away--his only sister! Mark may upset the apple +cart yet. It's certain he was pretty far gone, and I don't suppose she +cares whom she marries, as long as he has a decent income. It's true +she would naturally prefer a husband who is not likely to live many +years." + +"Oh, Lawrence!" expostulated Phoebe. "How can you talk like that. He +doesn't mean what he says, Carrissima." + +"Indeed I do," he answered. "I am a man of the world." + +"Still," said Carrissima, "you needn't be a man of the flesh and the +devil!" + +"Anyhow," returned Lawrence, "we shall see what happens when Mark comes +back." + +"One thing is certain," said Carrissima, "nothing on earth would induce +me to live at home if father were to marry Bridget." + +"As if you could live anywhere else. Where could you go?" + +"I shouldn't stay there!" said Carrissima. + +"The idea of a girl of your age setting up on her own is ridiculous," +was the reply. "As bad as the other woman! You have made your bed and +you will have to lie on it." + +"Ah, well!" said Carrissima, "it won't be at Number 13, Grandison +Square." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A PROPOSAL + +"Has Colonel Faversham returned?" asked Carrissima when Knight opened +the door. + +"The colonel is in the smoking-room," was the answer, and she went +there at once. He was leaning back in an easy-chair, with his feet on +the fender, a cigar between his lips, and an unusually benignant +expression on his face. + +"Well, Carrissima," he inquired amicably, "where have you sprung from?" + +"I went to Charteris Street," she returned. "What have you been doing +since eleven?" + +"What have I been doing?" said Colonel Faversham, rubbing his palms +violently together. "Well, now, to tell you the truth, I've been out +on the spree! Such a glorious day! I couldn't resist the temptation. +A man at the club--I don't think you know him--Comberbatch--asked me to +share a taxi and run down to Richmond to lunch. Delightful in the +park. And the view from the Terrace! It made me long to go on the +river again." + +"Why--why didn't you?" Carrissima faltered. + +"Come, come, what are you dreaming of?" said Colonel Faversham, with +one of his boisterous laughs. "Picture my rowing in these clothes: a +frock coat!" + +"Oh well," she returned, "I scarcely imagined you would row yourself." + +"Not row myself!" he exclaimed. "Why shouldn't I, in the name of +goodness? Let me tell you I can pull a good oar still. If only I had +had my flannels! You seem to think I'm fit for nothing." + +Colonel Faversham astonished Carrissima by rising from his chair and +taking off his coat. Removing the links from his shirt-cuff, he +solemnly turned back the sleeve, then clenching his fist, slowly raised +his forearm, looking the while so red in the face that she grew quite +alarmed. + +"Feel that!" he said. + +"I will take your word for it----" + +"Kindly do as I ask you," he insisted, with his arm still bent. "I +can't stand like this all day." + +Carrissima accordingly felt his biceps with her thumb and forefinger. + +"As hard as wood," she said. + +"Ah!" he answered, with a smile of relief and satisfaction, as he +turned down his shirtsleeve again; "I thought that would astonish you. +Not row myself!" + +He was obviously in the highest spirits, and indeed he was still under +the influence of the intoxicating pleasures of the earlier part of the +day. Not that this had passed without some drawbacks. The present +which he had bought at Donaldson's had been the cause of considerable +cogitation. He was hampered by the fear that Bridget might regard what +he would like to bestow upon her as too significant, and in the end had +selected a handsome and costly crocodile-hide dressing-bag. It would +prove suitable for her honeymoon, and it was with not a little regret +that he felt bound to order the initials "B. R." to be engraved on the +gold stoppers of the bottles, instead of "B. F." The alteration could, +however, no doubt be made in due season. + +Not wishing to open Carrissima's eyes unnecessarily soon, Colonel +Faversham gave instructions for the bag to be sent to Number 5, Golfney +Place, before half-past ten on Wednesday morning, and he felt deeply +disappointed when Bridget gently but firmly refused to accept it. + +Incongruously enough, she was persuaded nevertheless to accompany him +to Richmond, and the drive at close quarters in the taxi-cab, the +_tete-a-tete_ meal, the bottle of champagne which Bridget scarcely +tasted, had, collectively and separately, inflamed Colonel Faversham to +the sticking-point. When they reached Golfney Place at half-past five, +another disappointment lay in store for him, inasmuch as she refused to +allow him to enter the house--she felt too tired after the drive! He +could come to-morrow, and, meantime, he might send for the dressing-bag. + +She could be so tantalizing now and then, that it was easy to believe +she was scoffing at him. During the day she had more than once dragged +Mark's name into the conversation, and even Carrissima did not feel +more curious respecting their precise relationship than her father. + +Notwithstanding his anxiety concerning the critic on his hearth, and +the more exacerbating one in Charteris Street, Colonel Faversham had +reached the end of his tether. This delightful girl, with her charming +ingenuousness, her high spirits, might actually become his wife in the +course of a few months. + +A few months! She might be prevailed upon to marry him within the next +few weeks. What cause could there possibly be for delay? Surely he +was entitled to please himself! Absurd to imagine that a man of his +age must regulate his life to please a slip of a girl like Carrissima, +or a solemn young puritan like Lawrence! + +When Colonel Faversham arrived at Golfney Place on Thursday morning, +Bridget was wearing a new frock; quite light, almost white, in fact, +and setting off her slender figure to the most admirable advantage. +How many new frocks he had seen her wearing, Colonel Faversham found it +difficult to count. The crocodile-hide dressing-bag stood ominously on +the table, and, by way of a greeting, she reminded him that he had been +asked to send for it. + +"Confound the bag!" he retorted. "If you won't keep the thing, pitch +it in the dusthole. Bridget," he continued, standing close by her +side, "I want you to accept all I have in the world and myself into the +bargain. I am not going to blow my own trumpet. Thank goodness I was +never that sort of man! I wish I were a boy just because you're a +girl, but if you'll take me as I am, you'll make me the happiest man in +the world, and I'll do my best to see you never regret it." + +"I shan't pretend that you've taken me entirely by surprise," said +Bridget. + +"Surprise!" exclaimed Colonel Faversham. "No one could have shown much +more plainly what he wanted. There's not much shilly-shally about me. +For that matter, I made up my mind long ago----" + +"Oh, but you really haven't known me very long," she suggested. "It +can't be more than a month since Mark went to Paris." + +"I wish," said the colonel, "he had gone to Hades!" + +"I know you are horridly jealous," she continued, "because you always +change the subject when I mention his name. I like Mark Driver +immensely!" + +"Anyhow, I want to hear you say you like me better," said Colonel +Faversham. + +She stood looking at him critically--and very tantalizingly--with her +head slightly on one side; and while he devoured her with his eyes, +Bridget slowly took a chair. + +"But why should you try to make me say what isn't true?" she demanded. + +"I hope it would be," urged Colonel Faversham. + +"I am not at all certain," she said quietly. "It's a vastly important +question. It requires time for consideration." + +"How long, for goodness' sake?" + +"I really couldn't possibly tell you offhand. I shouldn't care to bind +myself." + +"I am desperately impatient to bind you, though," answered Colonel +Faversham. "I would see to it we had a good time. There's no wish of +yours that shouldn't be gratified--in reason, you know." + +"Haven't you discovered by this time how unreasonable I am?" she asked. + +"Bridget, come now, be a good girl!" he murmured. + +"That shows how little you know me," she returned, "because I'm not in +the least good." + +"Well, well, call yourself what you please! Only have a little love +for me, and I don't care what the devil you are!" exclaimed Colonel +Faversham, and at that moment he meant precisely what he said. + +"I am not certain I have," she cried, with a laugh. "You see that +whatever I may be I am candid. I don't think I have a particle of what +I suppose you mean by 'love' for any living being. Perhaps there's +something wanting in my constitution. I don't believe I shall ever be +capable of 'loving' anybody as long as I live." + +"Good gracious," was the answer, "don't tantalize me. Why do you keep +me on tenterhooks? Say you will marry me, and we'll leave everything +else." + +"I can't say so this morning," she insisted. "I can say that I won't +if you like." + +"For heaven's sake, don't do that!" Colonel Faversham quite humbly +entreated. + +"Then please don't bother me for an answer," she said, and, with all +her lightness, he realized that she had a will of her own. His only +consolation was that, if her word could be accepted, she had not given +her heart to Mark or any one else. Whether she was to be believed or +not, however, his infatuation remained unaffected. He had reached a +condition in which he longed for possession upon any terms whatsoever, +but since it was obvious that she did not intend to pledge herself this +morning, there was no help for it! He must be as little discontented +as possible to leave the question open for the present. + +"Well, then," he suggested, "if I manage to bottle up my feelings for a +week or so, will you try to think favourably of me in the meantime?" + +"Why, yes, of course I will," she answered. "But it must be distinctly +understood. I am as free as the wind! I have not promised anything." + +Beyond this she could not be prevailed upon to go, but before he left +Golfney Place, she gratified him by consenting to keep the +dressing-bag. She thanked him, indeed, very charmingly; so that, +notwithstanding his rebuff, Colonel Faversham left the house +disappointed, it is true, but even more her slave than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MARK RETURNS + +It was one afternoon towards the end of April, and Carrissima +congratulated herself that she had made up her mind to spend it +indoors, although the trees in the parks were in fresh green leaf, and +London was looking its brightest and best. There had been, however, a +few showers at luncheon-time, and Colonel Faversham had set out through +one afterwards "to his club." + +Carrissima, of course, knew very well that he was bound for Golfney +Place, and for her own part, she determined to stay at home until +tea-time, with the consequence that she saw Mark about half-past four. + +He entered the room looking as handsome, as alert and energetic as +ever; a man, you felt certain, who would succeed in making his way in +the world, as indeed he fully intended to do. + +"When did you get back?" asked Carrissima, remembering that her welcome +must not be too cordial. + +"Late yesterday afternoon," he answered. + +"Have you had a good time?" + +"Oh, ripping!" he continued. "Old Wentworth knows his Paris, and we +didn't waste many hours." + +Six months ago it would not have been in the least surprising that he +should pay her a visit directly he returned, but now she was wondering +whether he had already seen Bridget Rosser. + +"You're not staying in Charteris Street?" she asked. + +"Not a bit of it. I'm at Duffield's Hotel again for the present. But +I thought I ought to give Phoebe a look up last night. I went there +after dinner. She tells me you have seen Bridget?" said Mark, leaning +forward rather eagerly in his chair. + +"Oh yes, it seemed quite the natural thing to do," answered Carrissima, +unable to repress a sigh as she remembered the train of circumstances +which had followed her visit to Golfney Place. + +"That sounds as if you wish you hadn't done it!" he suggested. + +"Have you seen her yet?" asked Carrissima, perceiving her opportunity. + +"No," said Mark; "but I've listened to a good deal about her. Lawrence +is great on the subject. By Jove! according to him she might be the +complete adventuress. He insists she has been trying her hand on the +colonel--not without success!" + +"Does the suggestion strike you as being inconceivable?" demanded +Carrissima. + +"Oh well, you forget that I have been away for more than a month. I +have no means of forming an opinion----" + +"Your previous experiences!" said Carrissima; and Mark stared at the +carpet. + +His previous experiences of Bridget had, no doubt, proved entirely +agreeable. During Carrissima's absence from London in the weeks after +Christmas, when he had no occupation for his idle hands, he had +certainly spent many enjoyable hours at Number 5, Golfney Place, and it +had been necessary on more than one occasion to remind himself that +discretion was the better part of valour. + +If it had not been for Carrissima, the temptation to meet Bridget's +apparently "coming-on disposition" half way would have become more +acute, and without any idea of a closer relationship, he might +perchance have gone farther over night than he would have thought +desirable the next morning. + +Without being a coxcomb, Mark Driver, during those evening interviews, +had been inclined to think that this was precisely what Bridget +desired; but then again, he reasoned himself into the opinion that she +must be entirely innocent of any such idea, which was due, rather, to +his own less well-ordered imagination. And, besides, there was +Carrissima! + +"Goodness knows," he answered at last. "I came here this afternoon to +check Lawrence's opinion by your own." + +Now it was Carrissima's turn to hesitate. She wished to play the game +and not for the world would she attempt to belittle Bridget if Mark +desired to exalt her. On the other hand any reluctance to express a +candid opinion might appear suspicious in his eyes! + +"Oh well," she said, "there are certain facts which can't be disputed. +You must draw your own conclusions. Bridget lets father take her to +the play; to all sorts of places; she receives him every day in the +week, and he buys her presents. On the few occasions when I have seen +them together," Carrissima added, "he has made himself--well, I, if it +were not for my filial respect, I should say ridiculous." + +"Of course," answered Mark, "it's easy enough to believe that the +colonel admires her. Any man must! All I can say is that if Lawrence +has any justification I am immensely sorry." + +For what? Carrissima wondered. Was he sorry for her sake, or for his +own? Because Colonel Faversham was by way of winning Bridget, or +because he himself had consequently lost her? + +"So am I," murmured Carrissima. + +"I can't help seeing," Mark continued, "that I am responsible in a way. +If I hadn't mentioned her name at Phoebe's that evening I was late for +dinner you would never have gone to Golfney Place, and Bridget would +never have crossed Colonel Faversham's path." + +"How devoutly I wish she hadn't," said Carrissima. "But what can +anybody do? It is a day after the fair. She has the game in her hands +if she cares to play it. The astonishing thing is that she has waited +so long." + +"I wonder," exclaimed Mark, "whether I should find her at home." + +"If so she is scarcely likely to be alone. The only way to make +certain of catching her without father is to go soon after breakfast or +after dinner." + +"I will go this evening," said Mark. + +"What for?" asked Carrissima. + +"You see," he answered, "I'm a bad hand at sitting still with my hands +in my pockets. I suppose surgery makes one think something can always +be attempted." + +"Still," suggested Carrissima, with a smile, "you can scarcely dream of +going to Golfney Place and asking Bridget's intentions!" + +"The Lord knows!" said Mark. "I shall see how the cat jumps. Anyhow, +I am bound to have a look in." + +"I shall feel curious to hear how you get along," answered Carrissima. +"And now suppose we banish the topic. Can't we talk about something +more agreeable? I am afraid I have been making my poor father a little +uncomfortable at home. Mark, I am developing into a little beast." + +On the contrary, he thought she had never looked more charming. It is +probable that their recent separation caused him to regard Carrissima +more favourably than when he used to meet her, as a matter of course, +once or twice every week. He had not seen her face for longer than a +month, then only once after two or three months' separation. She came +upon him now as a kind of revelation, the more because of her obvious +anxiety on account of Colonel Faversham. For years he had ever found +her bright and equable; the best of good comrades, but this afternoon +their intercourse seemed for the first time to be touched by emotion. + +"Tell me about your plans for the future--if you have made any," +Carrissima urged. + +"Oh, I'm always making plans," he returned, and began to explain his +intention to lookout for rooms in the neighbourhood of Harley +Street--that medical bazaar. + +While still at Saint Josephine's Hospital he had made the acquaintance +of Mr. Randolph Messeter, a man considerably older than himself; an +eminent surgeon, who had more than once invited Mark to dinner. +Randolph Messeter frequently came to Saint Josephine's to operate, and +on such occasions Mark always administered the anaesthetic. Messeter +had more than hinted that he might be able to put some work in Mark's +way, and the intention was that he should specialize as an +anaesthetist, at the same time waiting for ordinary patients. +Carrissima listened with the deepest interest, knowing, however, that +his resources would be taxed to the utmost for some time to come. That +he would make his way before very long she did not doubt for an +instant, but how convenient he would in the meantime find her own +income of eight hundred pounds a year! + +How willingly, too, would she place it at his service! When he rose to +go away she wished that it were possible to keep him out of Bridget's +reach, because she could not fail to recollect Lawrence's plainly +expressed opinion. + +Could it be possible, she wondered, after Mark had left the house, that +Bridget had two strings to her bow? Was she holding Colonel Faversham +on and off until Mark's return to London? Did she intend to make a +last bid for the younger man, and if he eluded her to fall back on the +older one? + +For this supposition, however, there was only Lawrence's word, and for +her own part Carrissima would have been sorry if the world were quite +the rabbit warren which, in spite of his own remarkable domestic +felicity, her brother appeared to think it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CONFIDENCES + +Mark Driver, having dined at Duffield's Hotel, set out, with a cigar +between his lips, to Golfney Place. In the Strand he hailed a +taxi-cab, and his arrival obviously took Bridget completely by +surprise. She had always an alluring, seductive way with her, and now, +unaware of his return from Paris, she rose almost impulsively from her +chair, and came to meet him with such an air of abandon that he thought +for the moment she intended to fling herself incontinently into his +arms. + +Bridget looked peculiarly fresh and fragrant this evening in the light +morning frock, which she had not troubled to change for her solitary +dinner. It was almost impossible that any man of Mark's age should not +feel flattered and pleased by her satisfaction at the sight of him. + +"Oh, how glad I am!" she exclaimed, holding both his hands so tightly +that it would have been difficult to withdraw them if he wished. Her +frock was touching his coat as she stood gazing into his face. "Such a +dreadfully long time, Mark!" she continued. "I hope you are going to +stay in London at last." + +"Yes, all my wanderings are over," he answered. + +"Do sit down," she said, releasing his hands. "I hope the room isn't +too hot. I have a fire chiefly for company's sake, you know." + +"Have you been feeling dull?" he asked, sitting down at one end of the +large sofa, while she sank on to the other. + +"Only during the evenings," she explained. "I sit here by myself night +after night. I try to read, but gradually my thoughts wander, and I'm +back at home again. Home is always the dear old house at Crowborough." + +"Well now," said Mark, "what have you been doing all these weeks?" + +"Oh, I--I don't know," she answered, trifling with some trimming on her +dress. + +"Anyhow," suggested Mark, looking round the large room, "you seem to +have plenty of flowers." + +They were standing in every available space: in pots, in bowls, in +vases; the air of the room was laden with their scent. + +"They all came from Colonel Faversham," said Bridget, more soberly than +usual. "Have you seen Carrissima by any chance?" + +"This afternoon," returned Mark. + +"Then you know she has seen me. I think she is perfectly sweet, Mark! +She came here a few days after you went away, and asked me to go to +Grandison Square. She gave me leave to look her up as often as I +liked. I took her at her word. Oh, I assure you I feel very much at +home there." Bridget lowered her eyes, paused a moment, then raised +them again to Mark's face. "The question is," she said slowly, as if +she were carefully choosing her words, "whether I shall make it my +home--for good, you understand. I have been longing for you to come so +that I might--that I might ask your advice." + +"What about?" demanded Mark, somewhat taken aback by her outspokenness. + +"Oh, how dense you must be if you can't really guess," she said. + +"I don't think I shall try," was the answer. + +"Oh well, if you make me say it! Colonel Faversham wants me to marry +him. Now the murder is out, isn't it?" + +"Almost as detestable a crime!" cried Mark. "Do you mean that he has +actually asked you----" + +"If he hadn't, how should I know?" she replied. "Because there's +always the chance of a slip between the cup and the lip. Besides, even +such an unreticent person as myself couldn't possibly anticipate. I +dare say you wonder that I talk to you about it, in any case; but then, +you see, I have nobody else." + +"You haven't done anything so monstrous as to accept him?" said Mark. + +"Oh--monstrous!" she murmured. + +"Of course, it's unthinkable!" + +"Indeed it is not," said Bridget. "If you only knew how I have lain +awake thinking of it. Still, I wouldn't say 'yes.' I have kept the +poor dear man in suspense till your return. He is quite +ridiculously--well, in love with me, I suppose he would call it." + +"Obviously you are nothing of the kind," suggested Mark. + +"In love--with Colonel Faversham!" she cried, with a laugh. "You know, +Mark, he is most horridly jealous." + +"So there's some one else?" + +"Only you," she said, and Mark started to his feet. + +"Jealous of me! Oh, good Lord!" he exclaimed, and suddenly became +aware that Bridget was keeping him under close observation. + +"Idiotic of him, isn't it?" she remarked, continuing hastily, "but you +haven't given me your serious opinion. I want you to make a cool +survey of the situation." + +"I thought I had," said Mark. "Of course, you must refuse." + +"That is all very well," she urged, "but there's something else you +must tell me. Supposing that I refuse to marry the colonel, what is to +become of me?" + +"There are your aunts at Sandbay!" + +"Oh yes, my dear little Dresden china aunts! And, you know, Mark, +there's the River Thames. I would as soon plunge into the one as take +a train to the others." + +"What is to prevent you from staying here?" he asked. "If you are +tired of London, try Paris again. You can surely go where you please." + +"How few are lucky enough for that!" + +"I thought," said Mark, "you had the world before you." + +"More likely the workhouse," answered Bridget. + +"You don't mean to say you're--you're hard up!" he cried, returning to +his seat on the sofa. + +"Oh, I have plenty of money at the bank," she explained. "Mark, I +detest talking about it, but I really should love to tell you. During +mother's lifetime, you must remember how comfortably we used to live. +I always had everything I wanted--for that matter, so I have until this +moment. Naturally," Bridget continued, "I believed that the house and +everything were kept up by father's books." + +"Wasn't that the case?" asked Mark. + +"As a matter of fact," said Bridget, "they brought in very little money +indeed." + +"Surely his name was very well known!" + +"Yes, and he had heaps of friends who thought ever so much of him. +There are hundreds of press cuttings praising him up to the skies. +During the last few months of his life he scarcely read anything else. +The doctors gave his illness a long name--I dare say you would +understand if I could remember; but what killed him was a broken heart." + +"How was that?" asked Mark. + +"What we really lived upon," answered Bridget, "was my mother's income. +That died with her--all but a small sum, which she left to me. We were +compelled to leave Crowborough, and father seemed to droop like some +transplanted flower. We wandered from place to place, and I suppose he +was extravagant. I seem to take after him. Neither of us could bother +about economy and that sort of thing. He felt the change dreadfully, +and the tragedy was that he couldn't pull himself together in his +necessity. Instead of writing better, he wrote much worse. He could +satisfy neither himself nor any one else. His sales fell off; he saw +he wasn't doing good work. I believe that broke his heart." + +"Didn't he leave you anything?" asked Mark. + +"Nothing whatever. He knew he was dying and told me to communicate +with his old friend Mr. Frankfort, a solicitor. But there was nothing +due from publishers--not a penny; so it was fortunate I had the money +that had been left by my mother, wasn't it?" + +"Do you mind," suggested Mark, "telling me how much that was?" + +"I don't mind telling you anything," she said. "I want you to know all +about me. I love to tell you. It was invested to bring in a hundred +and twenty pounds a year; but what is that?" + +"Not enough to live upon as you are living here," he admitted. + +"Nor anywhere else," she replied. "It's no earthly use, Mark. I am +spoiled for that. I draw cheques when I want any money, and now and +then I get a letter from the bank manager to say my account is +overdrawn. I go to see him; my deed-box is fetched up from the realms +below, the manager sells something for me, and so I go along till the +next time." + +"Then you are living on your capital!" cried Mark. + +"What else can I live upon?" she demanded. + +"The interest--naturally." + +"Now, do you really think I look the sort of person to live on a +hundred pounds a year?" she said, throwing out her hands. + +"But if you haven't got any more! Don't you realize," he suggested, +"that the day is bound to come when you will find yourself out in the +cold?" + +"Oh yes," she said, with a sigh. "That's when I get a fit of the +miserables. But something is certain to happen." + +"You anticipate a miracle?" + +"It wouldn't be far out of the natural order of things," she replied. + +"You expect some one--one of your aunts, for instance--to leave you a +fortune!" said Mark. + +"Oh dear, no! I am not in the least likely to wish any one to die. +Really I think you are rather stupid this evening. There might be a +marriage, you know. Such things do happen!" + +"Anyhow," he answered, "you mustn't let yourself be frightened into +marrying Colonel Faversham." + +Rising from her end of the sofa, Bridget glided to his, and standing +close in front of him, so that her skirt brushed his knees, she looked +insinuatingly into his face. + +"Will you," she said, "kindly tell me what I am to do, Mr. Driver?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MARK REPORTS PROGRESS + +Mark Driver must have been much more obtuse than the most of his +friends believed, to fail to recognize the invitation in Bridget's +demeanour. Although he had not the slightest intention to profit by +it, he could not pretend that for the moment it lacked enticement. + +It seemed perfectly clear that she was holding the balance between +himself and Colonel Faversham; and realizing that her income must some +day inevitably be exhausted, shrinking from an appeal to her aunts at +Sandbay, that she was determined to take Time by the forelock and seek +safety in marriage. + +Mark could understand now the significance of her behaviour during the +first few weeks of their acquaintance, and while this offer of herself +was in a manner distasteful, she looked so young, so seductive, so +ingenuous while she made it that he must needs blame her environment +rather than her disposition. + +Bridget impressed him as a child masquerading in the garments of a +somewhat audacious woman of the world, and he told himself that if she +could be placed amidst more favourable surroundings, her natural +character would shine forth triumphantly. Moreover, he was by no means +free from egoism. He had enough vanity to experience some shadow of +gratification, and even though the other candidate was no one more +estimable than Colonel Faversham, there was, perhaps, a grain of +satisfaction in the knowledge that he might have been first in the +field. + +As a matter of fact, Mark had never in his life been more attracted by +Carrissima than on this first day after his return to London. At the +same time he was a young man and Bridget was an extremely captivating +young woman. Notwithstanding a sense of disapproval, it became +judicious to take the precaution of saying "good-bye." + +"Well, what am I to do?" asked Bridget, as he sat silent. + +"I'm blessed if I know," he answered, and at once rose to his feet. + +He saw that she was profoundly disappointed, and although it appeared +plain enough that the transaction would in any case be regarded by her +as mainly mercantile, he fancied that she would have been in other ways +delighted if his answer had been different. + +"Neither do I," she said, with a sigh, "unless I make up my mind to +gratify Colonel Faversham. Why shouldn't I? Look upon this picture +and on this. A year or two at the outside, and on the one hand I find +myself without a penny. On the other, I have only to say the word and +I make certain, as soon as I please, of a fair income, a good house and +an excellent position in society; because, you know, I could hold my +own. You see me here living through a kind of interregnum. I am just +nobody! But in Paris and other places it used to be different, and so +I intend it to be again. What else is there? You make an immense +mistake if you imagine me as a governess or anything of that kind. +What could I teach?" + +"Anyhow," answered Mark, holding out his hand, "you need not do +anything impetuously. At the worst your money will hold out for some +time to come." + +"Oh dear, yes!" she cried more brightly, "and before it has all gone, +why, I shall be provided with somebody else's." + +Still she looked up at him rather pitifully, her eyes meeting his own, +her chin invitingly raised with its delectable dimple. Now, Mark +wished devoutly that the idea of that dimple as a sort of _point +d'appui_ had never entered his thoughts, but there was the regrettable +fact. Of course he had hitherto always resisted the temptation, which +was the greater because he knew that he need not fear opposition; but +still, there was Carrissima and he resisted it again. + +He went to Grandison Square the following afternoon as if to seek a +corrective; and once in her presence marvelled at his own weakness. +Here was the woman, as somebody says, for him to go picnicking through +the world with. Not that the time had arrived just yet. Mark was not +without a sturdy independence. Besides, there would be Colonel +Faversham to deal with. As soon as he had made a beginning in his +profession, then would be the time to ask Carrissima to share his lot. + +"Well, did you see Bridget?" she asked. + +"Oh yes," said Mark. + +"If you appointed yourself her father-confessor she must have been a +wee bit surprised." + +"The surprise was on my side," said Mark. + +"What about?" demanded Carrissima. + +"The state of her finances. All she has in the world is the remnant of +two or three thousand pounds she inherited from her mother. Rosser +left her nothing, and she is calmly spending her capital." + +"But why," suggested Carrissima, "should she go out of her way to +enlighten you about her income?" + +"Anyhow," was the answer, "the time is bound to come when she won't +possess one." + +"What does she propose to do in that case?" said Carrissima. "At +present her dressmaker's bill must be rather extravagant, and I wish I +could buy such hats! I suppose," Carrissima added, "that marriage is +to be the way out of her difficulty." + +"At least," replied Mark, "you may console yourself that nothing is +settled at the moment." + +"How do you know?" asked Carrissima hastily. + +"You may accept it as a fact," he insisted. + +"Undoubtedly," she retorted, "your conversation must have taken an +extraordinary turn last night. Mark, you are rather tantalizing. It +is so evident that you are only favouring me with elegant extracts." + +"Oh well, I don't want to give the girl away," he said. "And look +here, Carrissima, I don't want you to drop upon her too heavily." + +"Is that a custom of mine?" she exclaimed. "As if I want to drop upon +her at all! Frankly, I like Bridget. You see, we are in agreement so +far. Or rather, I should like her if she would let the foolish colonel +go. Oh dear, I really ought not to talk in this way!" + +"Upon my word," said Mark, "I believe she scarcely realizes what she is +doing." + +"Then you admit she is doing it!" + +"A kind of youthful irresponsibility," he returned. "That accounts for +everything." + +"You seem to forget she is older than I am," said Carrissima. + +He laughed as he looked down at her small figure, and if he had not by +any means succeeded in relieving her dismal anticipations concerning +Colonel Faversham, he had to a certain degree caused her to feel easier +about his own future. Flattering herself that she had now a firm grip +of the situation, Carrissima began to marvel that a man of her father's +long experience could remain blind to the facts of the case. + +"Father," she said, alone with him after dinner the same evening, "I +heard some rather astonishing news this afternoon." + +"Ah well," answered the colonel, "it takes a great deal to astonish me. +The more I know of the world the more extraordinary things I expect to +hear." + +"It was about Bridget," said Carrissima. + +"What about her?" he demanded, turning in his chair to face his +daughter. + +"Judging from the way she lives and dresses," Carrissima continued, "I +always assumed she had plenty of money." + +"I hate to see a girl of your age mercenary," was the answer. "Good +gracious, when I was two-and-twenty I never gave money a thought. I +should never have dreamed of bothering myself about the amount of my +friends' incomes. I don't now for that matter. Always keep your heart +young, Carrissima! I am as disinterested now as ever I was in my salad +days, thank goodness! Odd where you get this calculating habit!" + +"I didn't know I was mercenary and calculating and all the rest of it," +said Carrissima. "I thought, perhaps, you might feel interested to +hear----" + +"To hear what?" cried Colonel Faversham. "If I had wished to learn the +amount of Bridget's income I should simply have paid a shilling and +gone to Somerset House to look at David Rosser's will. But I didn't. +I've a mind above that sort of thing." + +"You wouldn't have got much information there," said Carrissima, +"because Mr. Rosser left nothing. Bridget's money came from her +mother." + +"How did you discover that?" asked Colonel Faversham. + +"Mark told me." + +"Has he seen Bridget?" the colonel exclaimed in some surprise, because +he had spent the afternoon at Golfney Place and she had not for a +wonder mentioned Mark's name. + +"Yes, he went after dinner last night," said Carrissima. "There's not +the least shadow of doubt that she has been waiting to see whether he +would ask her to marry him." + +"Scandal!" shouted Colonel Faversham indignantly. "Abominable scandal! +How the devil is it possible you can know whether she expected Mark +Driver to ask her to marry him or not?" + +"It is perfectly certain," said Carrissima, "that unless she marries +somebody or other she will find herself without any money to live upon." + +Although Carrissima spoke after prolonged reflection, and considered +that the peculiar circumstances of the case justified the means she was +employing, she could not feel very pleased with herself. She disliked +anything underhanded; but, then, she disliked the prospect of Bridget's +becoming Mrs. Faversham still more. Instead, however, of causing +Colonel Faversham to hold his hand, Carrissima merely succeeded in +egging him on. Rising excitedly from his chair he stood glaring at her +for a few moments, as if he were going to break into a torrent of +abuse; but turning abruptly away he left the room, slamming the door +behind him so that the house shook. Making his way down-stairs he sat +up late in the smoking-room, and when at last he went to bed, found it +impossible to sleep. + +During the small hours it seemed almost as though Carrissima's hint +might prove of some avail. For the first time he began to hesitate +concerning the future. In an exceptionally sane interval he came near +to agreement with his daughter. Her remark about Bridget's means had +been, in fact, a revelation. Not that he cared whether she possessed +any money or not, but the absence of it might be a deplorable +temptation. + +Could it be possible that she had been deliberately awaiting Mark's +return, postponing her answer to the older man until she convinced +herself there was not a chance of securing the younger? An infuriating +suspicion, but still not capable of causing Colonel Faversham's +withdrawal. On the contrary, as he shaved the following morning, +cutting his chin rather badly, he told himself that if only Bridget +would consent to marry him, every other consideration might go to limbo! + +By eleven o'clock he was waiting in the sitting-room at Number 5, +Golfney Place. Until her appearance he walked restlessly from the +fireplace to the farthest window, stopping to look at the uninviting +oleographs on the wall, inspecting the row of David Rosser's novels +which filled the hanging shelf. + +Colonel Faversham was in an unstable mood this morning. Why couldn't +Bridget come? She must know by this time that he detested waiting! +Every other minute he glanced at the door, and at last when she entered +breathed a deep sigh of relief. + +"What a very early bird!" she cried, coming towards him in her +graceful, unhurried way. + +"I want to catch the---- No, no," he said, "that won't do! You didn't +tell me you had seen Mark Driver!" he added, holding her hand. + +"Didn't I?" was the casual answer. "But why should I? You surely +don't imagine for a moment I tell you everything! How deeply +astonished you would be! What an amusing disillusionment!" + +"Why should it be?" he demanded. "What have you to be ashamed of?" + +"Ever so much," said Bridget. "So many men would like to shut us up in +harems, wouldn't they?" + +"It depends on the woman," returned the colonel. + +"I assure you it would never answer in my case," she exclaimed. +"Neither bolts nor bars would keep me in." + +"My dear," he said, "you drive me half out of my mind. You give me no +peace." + +"Oh, you poor thing!" she murmured, resting a hand on his shoulder. + +"Say you will be my wife and have done with it," he urged. + +"Now, supposing--only supposing that I were foolish enough----" + +"You will," he cried, and doubtless he looked a little ridiculous as he +went down on one knee. The joint, too, was stiffer than usual this +morning. + +"What do you imagine," she suggested, "that Carrissima would say--and +your son!" + +At this alarming reminder Colonel Faversham made an attempt to rise, +but to his annoyance a cry of pain escaped. Unable for the moment to +straighten his knee, he remained at Bridget's feet, conscious of the +anti-climax. + +"Let me help you," she said, sympathetically offering her hand. + +"Good heavens!" he cried; "why do you imagine I require help! I am +quite able to help myself. I never depend on other people. Give me +independence," he added, standing upright though the effort made him +wince. + +"Yet you ask me to sacrifice mine!" said Bridget. "But what would Mr. +Lawrence Faversham have to say?" + +"Upon my soul I can't imagine," was the answer. + +"I believe you are thoroughly afraid of him and Carrissima. Well, so +am I," she admitted. + +Colonel Faversham had never held Lawrence in greater awe than at this +moment when he believed that happiness lay within his grasp. He +perceived that Carrissima the previous evening must have been +attempting to influence him, and consequently that she already +suspected his intentions. Now Colonel Faversham had often turned the +matter over in his mind, with the result that he conceived a plan +which, if it could only be carried successfully out, might obviate +everything unpleasant. + +"Lawrence," he said, "is a good fellow. A little too good, perhaps. I +have never pretended to be an anchorite. I've too much warm blood +still in my veins. Come to that, I'm to all intents and purposes a +younger man than my son. I have the greatest respect for Lawrence, but +he seems to have been born old." + +"You can't say that of Carrissima!" + +"No, no, a dear girl," he replied. "But a little sarcastic at times. +I detest sarcasm. I won't allow it. But no man can control a woman's +face. I can see Carrissima's smile," he added, taking out his +handkerchief and mopping his forehead. + +"How ridiculous," said Bridget, "to make yourself so uncomfortable on +my account." + +"Let him laugh who wins!" cried Colonel Faversham. "If they think I'm +a fool--well, I don't want to be wise. Of course, there's one way----" + +"What is that?" asked Bridget. + +"I don't know whether you would put up with it," said the colonel. +"Why," he suggested with eager eyes on her face, "why in the world +shouldn't we keep it to ourselves?" + +"How would it be possible?" she said, with a thoughtful expression. + +"Trust me for that," was the answer. "There are few things I can't do +when I make up my mind. Admit the principle, and everything else is +easy! Keep it dark, you know. In the first place you've got to +promise to be my wife. We don't breathe a word to any living being. +Then one fine morning we go out and get the knot tied: at a registry +office, a church, anywhere you like." + +"I shouldn't feel that I was properly married," said Bridget, "unless I +went to church." + +"Then you will!" urged Colonel Faversham, half beside himself with +satisfaction. + +"Please let me hear the whole scheme," she insisted. + +"Don't you see," he explained, "you and I--my dear little wife--would +be off somewhere abroad. Anywhere you choose!" + +"Italy," said Bridget. "We would travel through to Milan, then on to +Rome, Naples, Capri--Capri would be delightful." + +"My darling!" + +"But," she continued, "your plan is quite out of the question. I hate +anything resembling secrecy. Surely you don't imagine that if I +married you I shouldn't want every one to know." + +"Why, naturally," said the colonel. "We should send Carrissima a +telegram from Paris. The point is that she wouldn't know what had +happened until we were out of reach. By the time we got back to +Grandison Square she would have learnt to take a sensible view of the +accomplished fact. So would Lawrence." + +"Oh dear, you sound like a child who is bent on doing something he +ought to be ashamed of!" + +"It's true you make me feel like a boy again," he admitted. "Not that +I have ever felt anything you could call old or even middle-aged. It +will be the proudest day of my life if you consent," he added, and then +Bridget broke into a laugh. She threw back her head as if she were +putting away every misgiving, and Colonel Faversham drew near with the +intention to take her in his arms. Her demeanour suddenly stiffened, +however. In a condescending way she graciously permitted him to press +his lips to her cheek; nor was this unexpected reserve the only +drawback to his new happiness. + +In his impetuosity he called her attention to the advantage of a quiet +wedding, since there would be no absurd preparations to cause delay. +As they had only to please themselves, they might just as well get +married forthwith . . . say next week or the week after. Bridget, +however, quite good-humouredly refused to entertain any suggestion of +the kind, protesting that she had done enough for one morning. With +these mitigations, Colonel Faversham's glee appeared fatuous. Always +disposed to boast of his capacity to vie with men a quarter of a +century younger than himself, he had never, surely, done so well as +now! He went to Donaldson's for a diamond ring, which was put on +Bridget's finger the same afternoon, although she declared it must be +taken off again the moment he had gone. The secret must be thoroughly +kept! + +While Colonel Faversham approved of every endeavour to keep Carrissima +and everybody else in the dark for the present, he was determined to +stand no nonsense. He requested her to go to Golfney Place, and +following the line of least resistance, she went, persuading Bridget to +come to Grandison Square as her father wished. There one afternoon a +few days after the beginning of her engagement she met Jimmy +Clynesworth. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SYBIL + +Miss Clynesworth was considerably the oldest member of the group +(consisting of the Favershams, the Drivers and the Clynesworths) with +which this episode in Bridget Rosser's life is concerned. + +She was, in fact, more than forty years of age, and even in her +adolescence she had never been beautiful. On the other hand, her face +wore too amiable an expression to be considered very plain, and there +was an almost captivating quaintness in the old-fashioned figure she +presented. She seldom added to her wardrobe unless Jimmy bantered her +into it and gave her a cheque which, as a matter of honour, was to be +used for that especial purpose. Even then Sybil sometimes ventured to +deceive him. + +Short, although not quite so short as Carrissima, she had a thickset +but flat figure, and a conscientious objection to make her +drabbish-coloured hair appear more plentiful than it was. + +Her skin was rather florid, her light blue eyes were prominent, her +features being the only part of her with any approach to boldness. A +kind of amateur ministering angel, she was often appealed to--and never +in vain--by those in illness or affliction. Sybil Clynesworth was one +of the women (not so rare as might be imagined in these days) into +whose calculations the idea of marriage had seldom or never entered. +Perhaps her powerful maternal instinct had been diffused from her youth +up, and she regarded all who were in bodily or spiritual need as her +children. It will be seen that she had a large family! + +It seems probable that Sybil's charitable inclinations were inherited +from her father and Jimmy's; since this half-brother of hers might be +said to share them in a secret, shamefaced way. But with the +difference that while the one took life with profound seriousness, the +other appeared to look upon it as a huge jest. + +Without Jimmy, however, Sybil's hands would have been tied. Whilst +disagreeing entirely with his opinions, disapproving of many of his +actions, she never scrupled to avail herself of his munificence, +failing which her occupation would have gone. Above everything, Sybil +desired to see Jimmy take his proper place in the country. He ought +certainly to enter the House of Commons, and, in fact, to do a great +many things which he persisted in leaving undone; above all, perhaps, +he ought to marry Carrissima. + +"I wish," said Sybil, the morning after her return from looking after +Lady Ramsbottom, "you would go to Grandison Square this afternoon, +Jimmy. I should be so very much obliged if you would ask dear +Carrissima to be kind enough to come and see me to-morrow." + +"You obviously take me for a halfpenny postcard," he answered. "If I +go it will be without prejudice. Don't imagine I'm blind to your +little game! Sybil, I'm fed up with Carrissima. A thousand to one she +will end by marrying old Mark." + +"Jimmy," said Sybil reproachfully, "you know I never bet. You would +give me the greatest pleasure in the world. I long to see you married +to some really nice girl." + +"Whether I care for her or not!" suggested Jimmy. + +"Oh, how can you put such words into my mouth?" said Sybil. "As if I +were capable of dreaming of such a thing. Some dear girl whom you love +and respect----" + +"That's the difficulty," he answered. "Here I am waiting and trying +not to be impatient, but she doesn't come along. As soon as I see a +dear girl and love and respect her, I'll marry her like a shot if she's +willing. Probably she won't be because, you see, she would have to +love and respect me." + +Having nothing better to do and little dreaming of the fate in +preparation for him, Jimmy set out in due course to Grandison Square, +where, ten minutes earlier, Mrs. Reynolds had arrived: a tall, thin +woman of about fifty years of age, who had been an intimate friend of +the late Mrs. Faversham. She had a pleasant, if too grave face, and a +certain dignity of bearing. On her entrance, she sat down close to +Colonel Faversham's chair, holding him so closely in an uninteresting +conversation that he could not pay the slightest attention to Bridget. +She, left to her own devices, looked peculiarly charming this +afternoon, in a new hat, which Carrissima knew must have cost quite +five guineas. + +Colonel Faversham's face wore a gloomy expression. He was annoyed +because Bridget had not been introduced to Mrs. Reynolds, and in +considerable pain from the increasing rheumatism in his knee joint. In +the midst of his old friend's monologue, Knight announced-- + +"Mr. Clynesworth." + +"Good-afternoon, Jimmy," cried Carrissima, rising promptly from her +chair. "How nice and surprising of you to come!" + +"I'll tell the truth if I perish," he answered. "The fact is I was +sent. I'm a special messenger." + +"Then Sybil is at home!" + +"She turned up last night," he explained. "The world has naturally +stood still during her absence, and she hasn't a moment to spare for +the ordinary pleasures of life. Moral, will you look her up to-morrow?" + +Jimmy then turned to Mrs. Reynolds, who was sitting with a deprecatory +expression on her face, while Colonel Faversham, seeing an opportunity +to cross the room to Bridget, gripped the arms of his chair preparatory +to rising. + +"Ah, Jimmy!" he said. "I'm glad to see you!" + +"Yes, but please don't get up, colonel," returned Jimmy, looking +sympathetically at his host's leg. "A little stiff at the joint? +Rheumatism, I suppose?" + +"Nothing of the sort," said Colonel Faversham, wincing, as he stood +erect. "I never felt better in my life." + +"In fact," suggested Carrissima, "father has a growing pain." + +"I have not any pain in my body," cried the colonel, devoutly wishing +he had not. "I will walk you twenty miles any day you like." + +"Walking," said Jimmy, "is becoming a lost art. We all choose some +other mode of locomotion when we can. If we don't fly, we motor, and +before long it will be quite customary to skate on the pavement." + +"Jimmy, your presence is demoralizing," answered Carrissima. "Mrs. +Reynolds was discussing the influence of democracy on the fine arts, +and now you have brought us down to frivolity." + +"I don't think you know Miss Rosser," said Colonel Faversham, drawing +nearer to the empty chair by Bridget's side. "Mr. Clynesworth--Miss +Rosser." + +The colonel would have given something to avoid this presentation, but +since Jimmy had unfortunately come, he would not allow Bridget to be +left out in the cold. As Jimmy bowed, he coolly took the chair which +would have already been occupied, if caution and time had not been +desirable this afternoon in Colonel Faversham's movements. + +"I should have known you anywhere," said Bridget, without the least +hesitation. "Your photograph," she explained, as Mrs. Reynolds changed +her position to engage her host's attention, "has represented you +during your absence. Carrissima was kind enough to fill in the +colours." + +"It's to be hoped she laid them on with a trowel," was the answer, "and +gave me a better character than I deserve." + +"Don't you deserve a good one?" + +"Oh well, I am not going to give myself away," said Jimmy. "Anyhow, +I'm far from deserving this good fortune." + +Her cheerful laugh brought Colonel Faversham's anxious eyes to her +face, and he began to realize the disadvantages of a secret engagement. + +"I think," she was remarking, "that I used to know Miss Clynesworth." + +"A liberal education," said Jimmy, "and I hope you will soon improve +it. Quite infuriating," he added. + +"What is?" asked Bridget. + +"The cussedness of destiny! Weeks have passed since Carrissima came to +ask Sybil to look you up. If she had been in London she would have +flown to your house; you might graciously have returned her visit; I +should have seen you, and precious time would have been saved." + +"It's never too late to mend," said Bridget. "I mean, of course, for +your sister." + +"You regard me as hopeless?" + +"You appear to be full of confidence," she answered. + +"I am," he said, "but naturally Sybil can't go to see you until she +knows your address." + +Hearing her tell him that she was lodging at Number 5, Golfney Place, +Colonel Faversham could endure it no longer. Interrupting Mrs. +Reynolds' discourse quite rudely, he limped across the room, whereupon +Jimmy at once rose to his feet. + +"Sit down, colonel," he urged. "You will have to give old Mark a turn +before you've done." + +"I have not troubled a doctor for the last ten years," said Colonel +Faversham. + +"Oh, Mark wouldn't mind the trouble," cried Jimmy, and then he began to +say "good-bye." + +Never until this afternoon had Colonel Faversham seen Bridget in a room +with any one outside his own family. While on the one hand he rejoiced +to observe the ease of her manner, it dawned upon him that she was not +likely to be contented to shut herself off from all the world but +himself. Departing from his custom, he went to Golfney Place after +dinner that evening, and, flinging himself recklessly into a chair, +began to rail against Mrs. Reynolds. + +"I hate a woman with a long tongue!" he exclaimed. "Talk, talk, talk! +She would argue with the Recording Angel! I positively saw nothing of +you this afternoon. No time for a sensible word." + +"Still, I have managed to survive, you see," said Bridget, "and Mr. +Clynesworth is lovely!" + +"So is a python from one point of view!" was the answer. + +"Oh, what a far-fetched comparison!" she said, and leaned back, +laughing, in her chair. + +"Not at all," cried Colonel Faversham. "You'll generally find there's +something in what I say. You can't be too careful of a man like Jimmy +Clynesworth. For my part, I very seldom know what he is talking about; +I question whether he knows himself. I am a plain, straightforward +man--but there! I didn't come to talk about Jimmy." + +"I thought you did," said Bridget. + +"No, no," he replied; "I want you to fix the day for our marriage. +Upon my word, I don't feel quite certain that frankness isn't the best +in the long run--far the best." + +The effect of this expression of opinion surprised Colonel Faversham. +He had never seen Bridget so greatly excited. She started to her feet, +and flushed almost as deeply as Carrissima. + +"If you mean," she exclaimed, "that you have changed your mind, I have +not changed mine. After all your wonderful arguments! Please +understand, you are not to breathe a word to anybody, and to talk of +our marriage before we have been engaged a week is really too +ridiculous for anything." + +Although Colonel Faversham left Golfney Place in a condition of intense +dissatisfaction however, his sensations might have proved even more +unenviable if he could have heard what Jimmy Clynesworth said to Sybil +the same afternoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A WALK ABROAD + +"Sybil," said Jimmy, "at last I've seen her!" + +"And did she say she would come to-morrow?" asked his sister. + +"Oh well, of course you must go there in the first place," he answered. + +"Jimmy, what do you mean?" said Sybil, with an expression of +bewilderment. "It is not in the least like Carrissima to be so +ceremonious----" + +"Who was talking about Carrissima?" cried Jimmy. + +"I naturally thought you were." + +"Not a bit of it," said Jimmy. "Bridget--Miss Rosser!" + +"Rosser--Rosser," murmured Sybil, taxing her memory. "I fancy there +used to be some people named Rosser at Crowborough when I stayed with +Colonel Faversham so many years ago." + +"You must go and see her to-morrow," urged Jimmy. "The address is +Number 5, Golfney Place. There's the woman I should like to marry," +added Jimmy, causing Sybil to jump out of her chair. + +She pleaded tentatively, however, that she could not go the following +afternoon, for the simple reason that she expected a visit from +Carrissima, whose arrival she now eagerly awaited. + +"My dear," she said, pecking at her visitor's cheeks, as she clung to +her hand, "I've been positively longing to see you. How very well you +are looking! Now pray sit down and tell me all about this Miss Rosser." + +"So Jimmy has already been singing her praises," suggested Carrissima. + +"Oh dear, he simply took my breath away," said Sybil. "You would never +believe it! He actually told me he should like to marry her! Did ever +you hear such a thing?" + +"He never loved who loved not at first sight," cried Carrissima, with a +laugh. + +"Of course, my dear, Jimmy was only joking," said Sybil. + +"I scarcely imagined he had made up his mind so rapidly," answered +Carrissima, "although Bridget is obviously quite irresistible. What an +admirable solution! How I wish it might come to pass!" + +"Oh, but, Carrissima!" + +"It's no use," she said. "Self-preservation is the first law of +nature, and if she doesn't marry Jimmy she will very likely marry my +father." + +"Carrissima!" cried Sybil in the tone of one severely shocked. + +"I am perfectly serious," was the reply. + +"But a man of the colonel's age! And what a horrid--horrid person she +must be!" + +"Oh dear, no," said Carrissima. "You will see what she is. If only +Jimmy effects a diversion I shall feel grateful as long as I live." + +The net result of the interview with Carrissima was that Sybil did an +extremely unusual thing. Although Jimmy strongly urged her to go to +Golfney Place, she positively refused to gratify him. + +"Jimmy, I am very, very sorry," she insisted, "but I couldn't possibly +go. Miss Rosser really doesn't seem to be quite respectable." + +"That generally signifies something rather piquant, you know," said +Jimmy in his equable way. "Just think of the things and the people we +do respect--in your delightful sense. If we could only see through +their skins; though of course they're far too thick. Anyhow, if you +won't go now, you will later on, and meantime," he added, "you throw me +on my own resources." + +The consequence of Sybil's refusal was that Jimmy passed the end of +Golfney Place several times a day and presently met with a reward. It +was about half-past eleven one sunny morning that he saw Bridget come +forth from her door, and without a glance in his direction, turn +towards the further end of the street. Quickening his pace, he at once +set out in pursuit. Walking behind her, he saw the light on her +chestnut-coloured hair, saw that she knew (rare accomplishment) how to +walk, and a few moments later, still a foot or two in the rear, he +exclaimed-- + +"Good-morning, Miss Rosser." + +"Oh, good-morning, Mr. Clynesworth," she answered, without stopping. + +"Where are you going?" he asked. + +"To my dressmaker's in Dover Street!" + +"May I go with you----" + +"That sounds," cried Bridget gaily, "like the beginning of a nursery +rhyme." + +"There never was a prettier maid," he answered, walking by her side. + +"I suppose you know a great many," she suggested. + +"They are all cast into oblivion----" + +"Is it your experience," said Bridget, turning to look into his face, +"that they appreciate this--this sort of thing?" + +"Don't you?" asked Jimmy. + +"I rather prefer being spoken to as if I were a reasonable being!" + +"I was hoping you were not one," he said. "The spring is too +intoxicating. Everything," he continued, as they turned with one +consent from Knightsbridge into the park, "seems unaccustomed, fresh, +young, and you the most of all. Hang being reasonable! Suggest +something mad and let us do it together. But," he cried, abruptly +changing his tone, "what should you like me to talk about?" + +"I suppose your favourite topic is yourself," she said. "Tell me what +you do--if ever you do anything." + +"I don't," he replied. "I am what is called a spoilt child of fortune." + +"You like being spoilt?" + +"It depends on the spoiler. Sometimes I hate it." + +"Why?" asked Bridget. + +"Oh well," he said, as they walked by the side of Rotten Row, and Jimmy +occasionally lifted his straw hat to some passer-by who did not fail to +stare at his companion, "if we have to be serious, one has moments of +inspiration and pines for better things." + +"Aren't they within your reach?" + +"Your most ardent socialist," said Jimmy, "won't dream of pooling his +money till the millennium. What would be the use of my setting to work +and cutting out some poor devil who wants it?" + +"Mightn't you go into parliament?" suggested Bridget. + +"Original minds there are at a discount." + +"Is your mind original?" + +"An independent member is certain to be shunted at the first +opportunity," said Jimmy. "They want men who think in droves." + +"There's the army," returned Bridget. "At least you might learn how to +defend your country." + +"Yes, I have done that," he said, as they reached Hyde Park Corner. "I +used to be in the --th Hussars. Unfortunately, I got a rather bad +sunstroke in India. That may account for any small eccentricity you +notice." + +"I was wondering," answered Bridget. + +"As I had to come home," he explained, "and to keep quiet for I don't +know how long, I sold out. Since then I've raised a troop of yeomanry +at Atlinghurst. I have a place there, you know." + +"Surely you might find a useful occupation in its management!" + +"I did," said Jimmy, "until it was taken away." + +"How?" asked Bridget. + +"Simply because of one of the prettiest girls you have ever seen," he +answered, bringing Bridget's eyes again to his face. + +"I understand," she murmured. + +"I'm certain you don't," he said, with a laugh. "Erica Danvers. She +got herself engaged to a man who used to be at Trinity with me. The +misfortune was that he had six brothers older than himself. Well, +Erica came to me one day and declared she had hit on a capital plan. +Why shouldn't I make Bolsover my steward, pay him a living wage, and +all the rest of it. He and Erica have twins," added Jimmy. + +Bridget walked a few yards along Piccadilly in silence. + +"You have been extraordinarily unfortunate," she said rather gravely, +"although you ought to be pitied rather than blamed." + +"Not since I met you the other afternoon. Do you see much of old +Faversham?" he asked, for the colonel's admiration had been manifest at +Grandison Square. + +"He has always been very kind to me," she faltered. + +"Surely you meet with kindness everywhere," said Jimmy. + +"Except from Fate!" answered Bridget, with a sigh. + +"Wait and see!" he exclaimed. "The better part of life is before you." + +"Are you by way of telling my fortune?" asked Bridget. + +"I hope to be allowed to influence it," said Jimmy, as she stopped at +the corner of Dover Street. "You will let me come and see you," he +urged, taking her hand. + +"You said your sister was coming!" Bridget reminded him. + +"Yes," he said. + +"You must ask her to bring you." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE WOOING O'T + +Jimmy Clynesworth now began to employ all his arts to induce Sybil to +take some notice of Bridget. His eagerness, however, stood in his way. +The more forcibly he attempted to convince his sister of his desire, +the more obstinately she maintained her ground. Her hand was +strengthened by a visit to Charteris Street, where Victor often +attracted her, although some glass beads on her jacket made the child +regard her as an enemy. + +After Phoebe had voiced her husband's opinion of Miss Rosser, Lawrence +himself came home in time to dot the i's and cross the t's. Sybil left +the house with the opinion that poor Jimmy stood in the acutest danger. +It seemed evident that she had scarcely exaggerated when she declared, +in the first place, that Bridget was not "respectable"! + +She stiffened herself as it was only possible to do when duty called +her, and the consequence was that all of Jimmy's entreaties proved +vain. He, however, was not on any account to be deterred. The only +circumstance which would have been likely to hinder him was being +sedulously hidden. Had he for an instant suspected the existence of +any previous engagement he would have been the last man in the world to +poach on another's preserve. As things were, he waited a few days, +then presented himself with his usual cool audacity at Golfney Place. + +"Where is Miss Clynesworth?" asked Bridget. + +"I rather fancy she's spending the day somewhere in the neighbourhood +of Deptford," was the answer. + +"You must have forgotten what I told you," suggested Bridget. + +"Every word you said is indelibly impressed on my memory," said Jimmy. + +"I insisted," replied Bridget, "that you were not to come without your +sister!" + +"Oh dear, no," he exclaimed. "It's quite true you said I might come +with her, but you will see on reflection that is a different matter." + +"The fact is," said Bridget, "Miss Clynesworth is determined not to +show me the light of her countenance." + +"I am fairly certain that is a mistake," returned Jimmy. "I am +convinced she will come, but not at present." + +"Why not?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and told himself that women were sometimes +rather severe on one another. Wandering about the room, Jimmy looked +at one or two of the oleographs on the light-papered walls, and +presently his eyes rested on the hanging bookshelf. + +"You have a collection of your father's novels!" he suggested. + +"Have you read any of them?" she asked, with obviously quickened +interest. + +"Yes, several," was the answer. He took one down from the slide. "I +was introduced to Mr. Rosser by old Faversham at Crowborough," he +continued. "I wish to goodness I had seen you at the same time! +Besides," continued Jimmy, as he turned the pages while Bridget stood +looking over his shoulder, "I met him once afterwards. That was at the +Garrick. I was dining there one evening, and he joined the party. I +remember perfectly well that he was the life and soul of it. His books +were always a delight to me, if only for their style." + +Jimmy put back the volume he had been examining and took down another, +continuing to discuss its contents for ten minutes or a quarter of an +hour. + +"Miss Rosser!" he cried suddenly, "I am the most arrant humbug!" + +"Aren't you really interested in the books?" she asked. + +"Yes, but, you know, life is more than letters. Not so much in the +books as in you. Although I am going to ask you to let me take one of +them home, and I shall enjoy reading it, my actual object is to find an +excuse for coming again." + +"Which will you take?" she asked. + +"This looks promising," said Jimmy, selecting a grey-covered volume. + +"It is about an ill-assorted marriage," she explained. + +"Oh well, the majority of modern novels are." + +"Certainly the majority of my father's," she said. "And yet his own +marriage was such a perfect success." + +"Obviously!" answered Jimmy, turning to face her. + +"You have heard----" + +"Not at all. The happy country has no history, you know. I merely +judge by the result." + +Her eyes fell under his gaze, and he saw the colour slowly mantle her +face and neck. "Oh, why do you flatter me?" she murmured. + +"Don't you like flattery?" + +Now she raised her eyes again, meeting his own. + +"Oh, I love it," she admitted. "But there are so very many undesirable +things I adore." + +"I wish I might become one of them!" + +"Do you fulfil the condition of undesirability?" asked Bridget. + +"Anyhow, I am one of the unemployed," he answered. "You see, I have +been almost converted to opinions which cut away the ground from under +my own feet. I have lived so far a delightful life, and now my +conscience is beginning to nag me. The question is whether I am +enjoying myself at some poor wretches' continual expense." + +"Why have you never married, Mr. Clynesworth?" asked Bridget. + +"I have seen only one woman I could ever care to make my wife." + +"Isn't one enough?" + +"She is bound to be in this country," was the answer; "although we may +have to alter all that in order to get rid of our surplus!" + +"Why haven't you married that one?" + +"Well, I haven't asked her yet," said Jimmy. "Of course, I am going +to, but there are, I suppose, rules to be observed. Hitherto, to tell +you the truth, I have been a little frightened at the bare idea. One +has so many object lessons! I know a man who was married a week or so +ago. He was immensely fond of the girl, but I can swear she doesn't +care for him a rap. Yet I imagine she succeeded in satisfying him that +she was--well, over head and ears in love! So she was with some one +else." + +"Still, with so many awful examples," suggested Bridget, "you will +naturally be cautious. For your own part, you would not put the +momentous question to any woman unless you had the most perfect +confidence----" + +"Oh, I have!" he replied, more enthusiastically than she had ever heard +him speak. "Being human, I suppose I am bound to assume there must be +blemishes about her somewhere--I don't know where! But," Jimmy +continued, "of one thing I am as certain as a man can be of anything in +this world." + +"What is that?" faltered Bridget. + +"Her utter incapability of the remotest shadow of deception. At least +I know that when the time comes to put my fate to the touch, she will +answer with absolute honesty. If she loves me I shall be the most +fortunate beggar under the sun, and if unhappily she doesn't, she will +say so _sans phrase_." + +"You put a premium on candour!" she suggested. + +"Why, yes," he answered. "Whatever I may be I am not very intolerant, +but double dealing is the one thing I think I might find it impossible +to forgive. It isn't the spoken lie that's the worst." + +"What is?" asked Bridget. + +"The abominable whitewash we daub over our lives. The eternal pretence +to be something we are not. The---- But," Jimmy broke off, with a +laugh, "you must always pull me up when I show signs of beginning to +preach!" + +As he was speaking, the door opened and Miller in his quiet way +announced-- + +"Colonel Faversham." + +"Hullo, Jimmy, are you here!" he exclaimed, as Bridget offered her hand. + +"Don't you think it looks rather like it?" answered Jimmy, with an +ingratiating smile. "I hope your knee is better, colonel." + +"Quite all right," said Colonel Faversham, with a scowl. "Never +anything the matter with it. I am never ill. There isn't a sounder +man in London." + +"Oh well, that's a large order," answered Jimmy. "Still, at your age I +don't suppose there is." + +Colonel Faversham looked as if he would like to annihilate Jimmy, who +was struggling to put David Rosser's novel into his jacket pocket. +Then he said "good-bye" to Bridget, adding coolly-- + +"I shall bring back the book in a day or two." + +With a nod to the colonel he left the room, whereupon Faversham lowered +himself carefully into a chair. + +"Has Jimmy often been here?" he demanded. + +"Oh dear, no," she answered. "This is the first visit." + +"Like his impudence! It won't be the last." + +"I hope not," murmured Bridget, standing by the side of his chair. + +"How many times have you met him since that afternoon at my house?" +asked Colonel Faversham. + +"Only once besides to-day!" + +"He took that book," was the answer, "simply for the sake of bringing +it back! I hate anything underhanded." + +"But he isn't!" Bridget insisted. "He said that was his reason." + +"Barefaced!" shouted the colonel. "The fact is Jimmy Clynesworth has +never been the same since his sunstroke. Bridget," he added, "I should +like to keep you entirely to myself. I should like----" + +What his precise desire might be Bridget was not destined on the +present occasion to hear. He suddenly stopped in the middle of his +sentence, gazing at her with horror and alarm in his face. Covering +hers, she had incontinently broken down, and her body shook with the +violence of her sobs. Colonel Faversham found his feet so hastily that +he could not suppress an exclamation as he stooped to rub his knee. He +knew neither what to say nor how to act. + +"What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "Tell me what it is. Only +let me know. What more can a man ask?" + +"Oh, it is nothing," said Bridget amidst her tears. "Only that I am +the most miserable woman in the world." + +Although he did his best, he could not succeed in tranquilizing her, +and finally went away, leaving her in the most despondent mood. Alone +in his smoking-room the same evening, Colonel Faversham did his utmost +to arrive at some explanation of Bridget's passionate outburst of grief. + +Could it be possible she was distressed at the sight of his +disapproval. He ought to keep a firmer rein on his temper! He must +remember that Bridget was a delicate girl, and treat her with the +kindness she deserved. + +This more satisfactory explanation, however, did not prove entirely +convincing. She might be unhappy because she repented of her promise; +well, in any event he intended to keep her to it! She could scarcely +think of breaking her engagement on Jimmy's account! She had spoilt +herself for that. Colonel Faversham, as she must know, was not the man +to stand silently by while she transferred herself to a younger +aspirant. She had sense enough to understand, too, that Jimmy had only +to hear of the existing engagement to retire from the competition. + +As a matter of fact, Jimmy had no thought of drawing back. The +following Sunday morning the sun seemed to shine more brightly than +usual, and Bridget stood at one of the windows of her sitting-room, +looking out at the few passers-by on their way to the white-fronted +church farther along the street. Its bell was ringing cheerfully. + +Until the last few years she had always lived in the country, and now +her thoughts flew back to earlier days, and she pictured the fields and +hedgerows, remembering the places where she used to find daffodils and +primroses and violets. A longing seemed to seize upon her as the +church bells left off ringing, and then she heard a hooter, and saw a +dark-red motor-car stop at the door, with a chauffeur driving and +Jimmy, with a light-brown fur rug over his knees, sitting alone behind. + +"A magnificent morning!" he cried, entering her sitting-room a few +moments later. "I couldn't resist the temptation, and to tell you the +truth, I didn't try very hard. I hope you'll let me take you for a +spin into the country." + +"Of course it would be lovely!" said Bridget. + +"Then I shall give you five minutes to get ready," answered Jimmy. + +"I really mustn't," she insisted. + +"Why not?" he demanded. "Aren't you as free as the larks?" + +Bridget sighed as she stood looking out at the car in the street below. + +"Come," urged Jimmy. "Let me take you to hear them sing!" + +"Where?" she faltered. + +"Oh, you must give me carte-blanche!" + +"Suppose I were reckless enough!" said Bridget. + +"We would go to the farthest and most secluded corner of the earth +where the sun always shines, but never too fiercely." + +"Then," she cried more brightly, "English wouldn't be spoken." + +"You and I would understand each other," said Jimmy. "That is all I +care for." + +"There would be the coming back," she suggested. + +"Not necessarily," he replied, and Bridget seemed to start as if some +fresh idea had suddenly occurred to her mind. "Anyhow, we needn't +think of returning before we set out," he continued. + +"I mustn't," she repeated. + +"But, indeed, you must." + +"Mr. Clynesworth----" + +"What," he asked, "is the matter with 'Jimmy'?" + +"I fancy he is very--very foolish," said Bridget. "I should have to +get back by three o'clock," she added. + +"Well, half a loaf is better than no bread," he returned. + +"You promise faithfully I shall be home by three!" + +"Anything in the world so that you come," said Jimmy. + +She went to get ready, and presently returned wearing a small hat which +became her as well as the wide-brimmed one in which he had seen her the +other morning. She carried a heavy cloak over her arm, and seemed to +find it difficult to button her gloves. Finally she held out her hand +to Jimmy, who lingered over the process; but by and by they went +down-stairs together, out into the street, and he put her into the car, +tucking the fur rug about her before taking his seat by her side. +Colonel Faversham was at church with Carrissima, looking forward during +the Lessons to the afternoon, when he intended to reach Golfney Place +by half-past three. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +MARK MAKES A BEGINNING + +Colonel Faversham, without being a bigoted Sabbatarian, liked to make a +difference between Sunday and the other six days. He always expected a +rather more elaborate dinner and never failed to go to sleep after +luncheon. He allowed himself an extra cigar or two, and, in short, +deprecated anything which threatened to disturb his peace. + +During the last few days his mind, chiefly owing to lapse of time, had +been easier concerning Bridget. Without being demonstratively +affectionate, she appeared as cheerful as ever, so that he reached +Number 5, Golfney Place at half-past three this afternoon with every +hope of spending an agreeable hour or two in her presence. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed, before he had been many minutes in the room, +"wild flowers!" + +"I think they must be," said Bridget, with a laugh. + +"They look fresh!" + +"They ought to be," she answered. "They were growing an hour or two +ago." + +"In the country?" suggested the colonel. + +"Wouldn't it be lovely if one could pick primroses and marsh marigolds +in London!" said Bridget. + +"Bridget," cried Colonel Faversham, "I believe you take a delight in +teasing me. I suppose the people of the house gave them to you!" + +"How much I should like to have a motor-car," she said suddenly. + +"Why not?" he demanded. "Why shouldn't you have a motor-car? I often +wonder I've never gone in for one before now. Bridget, there are few +things you shan't have when once you're my wife." + +She leaned back in her chair, biting her nether lip, and every now and +then glancing reflectively at the colonel, as if in hesitation. + +"Such a delightful ride!" she cried a few minutes later. + +"Eh--what--when?" he said. + +"This morning, of course. Jimmy took me by surprise. He called for me +shortly after eleven. I couldn't resist going. We went through some +of the loveliest Surrey villages." + +"What about lunch?" asked Colonel Faversham, with difficulty bottling +up his wrath. + +"Oh, we stopped at the sweetest little inn that seemed to be miles away +from everywhere and everybody. Of course, we hadn't much time to +spare." + +That was one consolation, and Bridget's candour was another; +nevertheless. Colonel Faversham found his Sunday afternoon quite +spoilt, and finally left Golfney Place in a humour to make things a +little uncomfortable for any one who crossed his path. He was +beginning to notice that Mark Driver came to Grandison Square somewhat +often, and seeing Carrissima wearing her hat and jacket a few +afternoons later the colonel asked where she was going. + +"I am expecting Phoebe," she answered. "Mark has taken some rooms in +Weymouth Street and we are invited to inspect them to-day." + +Colonel Faversham chuckled as she left the house. Nothing could suit +his purpose better! She would never, he felt certain, be content to +stay at home under the new Mrs. Faversham's regime, and her own +marriage would prove an admirable solution of the difficulty. + +Mark Driver was just now in his element. His friend, Doctor Harefield, +had broken down in health, his only hope being to relinquish an +incipient practice and spend a considerable time in a more favourable +climate. Mark had taken over Harefield's three rooms: a dining-room on +the ground floor, intended to serve also as a patients' waiting-room; a +small consulting-room in its rear, and a bedroom at the top of the +house. The furniture, such as it was, had been bought at a valuation, +not that Mark had intended to make such an outlay at the moment, but it +was understood that the goodwill of Harefield's practice was to be +thrown in. It was, in fact, far too small to be sold separately, +although it might form the nucleus of the much larger one which his +successor fully intended to build up. + +Mark, having provided an elaborate tea and a profusion of flowers, +looked forward with considerable zest to Carrissima's visit with Phoebe +as her chaperon, and yet as he stood at the window awaiting her arrival +he wondered whether he had not perhaps been a little too precipitate +over his recent investment. + +His outlook had been steadily changing since the day after his return +from Paris. Although it appeared as if love had come upon him +suddenly, he knew it had done nothing of the kind. While it seemed to +have blossomed in a day, he understood that it had been developing for +many months, perhaps, even for many years. + +He could not feel absolutely confident. Carrissima had builded better +than she knew. So cleverly had she dissembled her emotions that there +were times when Mark feared lest he should take her completely by +surprise; but in any case the declaration must not much longer be +postponed. If his desires were gratified, it appeared obvious that +these three rooms would prove inadequate, while, incongruously enough, +it was the fact that he had made some kind of beginning by taking them, +which justified his increasingly impatient aspirations. + +Carrissima, arriving with Phoebe at half-past four, was prepared to +admire everything. She was taken first to the small consulting-room, +and shown various kinds of apparatus for the administration of ether, +chloroform and gas, then to the waiting-room, where Phoebe poured out +tea. Mrs. Lawrence Faversham, for her part, was more critical. She +insisted that Mark had paid more than the furniture was worth. Much of +it was fit only for the dusthole! The curtains, for instance, were +falling to pieces, and in any case he positively was bound to invest in +a new carpet. + +"Look at the darns!" she cried. "It must have served for generation +after generation of physicians. It is enough to put any patient off! +Whatever you do without, you really must have a new carpet." + +"Don't you think I could rub along with the old one for the present?" +asked Mark, turning to Carrissima, who, however, felt she must agree +with her sister-in-law. + +"Such a fuss about seven or eight guineas," said Phoebe. "If you won't +buy one I shall have to make you a present." + +"Well, then," exclaimed Mark suddenly, "suppose you and Carrissima help +me choose it. I am a perfect idiot at that sort of thing. Where shall +we go?" + +"You would never ask such a question," said Carrissima, looking +wonderfully happy as she sat holding her cup and saucer, "if you had +any real feeling for the Art of Shopping. We will go everywhere. The +first thing is to land yourself in the neighbourhood--then you plunge. +The idea of making up your mind where to buy a thing before you start. +That's not the way. Do it thoroughly and see all that is to be seen." + +"When shall we go," asked Mark, "since I mustn't ask where?" + +"Any afternoon you like to name next week!" + +"It is evidently going to be a long job," said Mark. "Suppose we say +Monday afternoon. I will call for Phoebe at three in a taxi, then we +will make for Grandison Square." + +Carrissima left Weymouth Street in the highest spirits, and at last +began to wonder whether her long patience was by way of being rewarded. +When Monday arrived she actually put on her hat--her most becoming +hat--before the appointed time, and as she sat waiting for Mark and +Phoebe Colonel Faversham looked into the dining-room. + +"Oh, ah, Carrissima!" he said; "it occurs to me that you haven't seen +much of Bridget lately. I should like you to go to Golfney Place. +You've nothing in the world to do. You look idle enough sitting there! +Suppose you go this afternoon!" + +"I am expecting Mark," answered Carrissima. + +"Mark again!" + +"And Phoebe," said Carrissima. + +"Off on the spree--the three of you?" + +"Mark," Carrissima explained, "asked us to help him choose a--a +carpet----" + +"Devilish thoughtful of him," said the colonel in his most amiable and +significant tone. + +"For his patients' waiting-room!" + +"Well, if you get one to match your cheeks," was the answer, "it will +be a nice cheerful colour for them. It strikes me you're seeing a good +deal of the fellow." + +"I always have done," said Carrissima, devoutly wishing he would arrive +to release her. + +"Be candid now!" cried the colonel. "Be honest. I like honesty. +Anyhow, you can't deceive me. Carrissima, I'll tell you one thing. +There's nothing on this earth would give me greater gratification, +nothing!" + +She durst not even yet allow her hopes to run away with her, and while +she was wondering whether there would be time to go upstairs and powder +her face or whether, after all, the remedy might not be worse than the +disease, she heard the street door bell ring. + +"I will go to Golfney Place to-morrow, if you like," she said, with a +momentary sense of something resembling sympathy for her father. +Because, if what she was constantly hearing from Sybil were true, it +seemed extremely probable that Colonel Faversham was doomed to +disappointment. According to Sybil, Jimmy went to see Bridget day +after day, and granting that she was determined upon escape from her +pecuniary troubles by a marriage of some kind, surely she would choose +Jimmy in preference to the colonel, if only for the fact that he was +much more wealthy. So that Colonel Faversham were spared Carrissima +did not feel disposed to judge Bridget too severely; disapproving of +her manoeuvres, indeed, but having enough to do in the management of +her own affairs. + +"Well, well, go to-morrow," said her father. "I'll answer for it she +will be pleased to see you. Take her a few flowers! Ah!" Colonel +Faversham added, as the door opened, "here's Mark!" + +"Where is Phoebe?" asked Carrissima, as she offered her hand. + +"An awful bore," answered Mark. "Victor has a bit of a cold; anyhow I +couldn't persuade his devoted mother to desert him this afternoon." + +"I suppose," said Carrissima, hoping that she was not betraying her +disappointment, "we must wait for another day." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Colonel Faversham. "Why shouldn't you keep to +your arrangement? What is to hinder it, I should like to know." + +"Do you mind, Carrissima?" asked Mark, gazing eagerly into her face. + +"Not at all," she said, and a few minutes later Colonel Faversham stood +on the doorstep, looking after them with obvious approval, as they were +driven away from the house in a taxi-cab. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BUYING A CARPET--AND AFTER + +Mark and Carrissima had not gone far on their way together before it +became evident that they were not absolutely in harmony. His object +was primarily to purchase a carpet for his dining-room as quickly as +might be; while hers was to visit as many shops as possible and, in +fact, thoroughly to enjoy the afternoon. + +"Where shall we go first?" he suggested outside the door of Number 13, +Grandison Square. + +"Let me see!" she cried. "Tottenham Court Road will be the best." + +So Mark directed the chauffeur accordingly, and, on getting out of the +taxi-cab, Carrissima ominously suggested that it should be dismissed. +During the somewhat lengthy process which now began, she was not +without moments of pleasurable embarrassment. No doubt the various +frock-coated salesmen, who patiently displayed their wares, desired to +do precisely the correct thing, but there appeared to exist a +considerable difference of opinion concerning Carrissima's status. + +Some addressed her as "Miss," some as "Madame," but all agreed that she +was either recently married to Mark Driver or on the point of becoming +his wife. At first he enjoyed entering the huge warehouses by her +side, standing by while she (obviously taking command of the +expedition) expressed her wish to "see some carpets." He was amused to +hear her discuss the nature of carpets in general; also at her manner +of resisting every effort of persuasion, and finally walking to the +door. When, however, several shops had been fruitlessly visited and +enough carpets inspected to furnish a large, modern hotel, Mark began +to feel weary. + +"This is uncommonly hard work," he suggested. "I vote we have some tea +as an _entr'acte_." + +"Oh, very well, if you're tired already," said Carrissima, "we will go +to Prince's." + +"Can't we find a shop about here?" urged Mark. + +"It won't take us half-an-hour in a taxi," she insisted, and a few +minutes later they were on their way. + +"After we have fortified ourselves," said Mark, "perhaps we shall find +it possible to make up our minds." + +When they reached the restaurant in Piccadilly, Carrissima admitted +that she felt glad to sit down. + +"Now, don't you think," suggested Mark, after she had drunk two cups of +China tea and sampled the cakes, "we might begin serious business at +the next place." + +"If you're really sick of it," she answered, "we may as well go back to +the beginning, though I wanted to visit one or two places about here." + +"O Lord!" exclaimed Mark. + +"You see," she replied, "I really made up my mind at once. We haven't +seen anything so good for the price as that bronze and black Childema +rug at Mabred's." + +"Then we have simply wasted the whole afternoon!" + +"It isn't very nice of you to say that," cried Carrissima, rising from +her chair, with a laugh. They were soon on their way back to the first +warehouse they had visited, and the bronze and black carpet having been +after some trouble identified, Mark drew a cheque to pay the bill. + +On going out to the street again, he was on the point of hailing +another taxi-cab, when Carrissima proposed walking at least a part of +the way. + +"Carrissima," he said, gazing down into her eyes, a few minutes later, +"what is the colour?" + +"Oh well," she replied, "there are ever so many blended together, you +know." + +"I thought there must be two," he admitted. + +"Of course," she said, "the general effect is bronze and black." + +"Blue or grey?" murmured Mark, as she looked up again. + +"Have many carpets made you mad?" she demanded. "I don't understand +what you are talking about!" + +"I was wondering about the colour of your eyes. I can't quite make up +my mind about them," he continued. "At one moment they look grey, at +another blue." + +"Surely," answered Carrissima, quite unwontedly happy, "you have known +me long enough to feel no doubt." + +"It is possible," said Mark, "that I have known you too long." + +"Oh, thank you," she exclaimed. "So custom stales any variety they +possess." + +"Not at all," he urged. "What I meant was that familiarity, as the +copybooks say, may breed a kind of--well, scarcely contempt----" + +"Mark," said Carrissima, "the more you say the worse you will make it. +I really think you had better be quiet. How long is it," she asked, as +they walked towards Weymouth Street on the way to Grandison Square, +"since you saw Bridget?" + +"Not since the day after my return from Paris," he replied. "I have +not been near Golfney Place. Nor," he added, "have I any intention of +going. To all intents and purposes, Bridget has dropped out of my +life." + +"Any one would imagine," said Carrissima, "that she had done something +to annoy you." + +"Oh dear, no," was the answer. "I am simply indifferent." Before she +had time to explain that she had promised to go to Golfney Place the +following afternoon, he added, "By the bye, your fears have not been +realized so far. I am immensely glad of that." + +"Ah, yes," said Carrissima; "after Bridget's curious confidences, I +suppose you expected something--something horrid to occur quite soon!" + +"We need not rake up the past," cried Mark, who would have preferred to +avoid Bridget's name, which indeed had not been mentioned between them +during the last few weeks. + +"For that matter," she said, "my anxiety is practically a thing of the +past." + +"Is Colonel Faversham cooling off?" + +"Not in the least. It is difficult not to feel rather sorry for him. +He goes day after day--but then a fresh act has begun. Jimmy has +appeared on the scene." + +"Jimmy!" cried Mark in unfeigned surprise. + +"He met her at our house some time ago," Carrissima explained. "It was +really quite entertaining. Those two seemed to draw together on the +instant, as if one were the magnet and the other the needle. Besides, +I have the advantage of Sybil's confidences. Poor Sybil! I can assure +you she is in the most dreadful state of mind." + +"But do you imagine that Jimmy means business?" demanded Mark. + +"According to Sybil, he is merely biding his time: waiting until a +sufficient number of weeks have passed to enable him to come to the +point with something like decency." + +"If that's really the case," said Mark, "I can only say I am immensely +pleased!" + +"So am I," answered Carrissima, with quiet fervour. + +"I would have done a great deal, if it had been possible," Mark +continued, "to prevent Bridget from marrying Colonel Faversham, if only +for your sake; but as to Jimmy, I don't care a rap." + +"Neither do I," said Carrissima. + +"If he can't take care of himself after all his experiences," Mark +insisted, "the Lord knows who can. I consider Jimmy fair game." + +They parted at her door, Mark refusing to enter the house, because he +had a patient to visit--one of the very few he had taken over from Dr. +Harefield. Never had Carrissima spent a more enjoyable or a more +thoroughly satisfactory afternoon! It proved an immense consolation to +hear that Mark had not seen Bridget, with that one exception, since his +return from Paris; whereas his manner of taking the news of Jimmy's +entrance on the field could scarcely have been more desirable. + +Not only had the afternoon seen the disappearance of her last lingering +feeling of jealousy of Bridget Rosser, but it encouraged the growth of +sensations which had long been kept back. As a rule, Carrissima +enjoyed a serious talk with Mark, but to-day she had been the most +delighted by his frivolity. She laughed quietly as she remembered his +remarks anent the colour of her eyes, and spent some minutes examining +them in her looking-glass. + +"You won't forget, Carrissima," said Colonel Faversham at breakfast the +next morning. "You won't forget you're going to see Bridget this +afternoon. Take a few flowers--roses, if you ask me! She is fond of +roses." + +She assured her father that she had not forgotten, and eventually set +out in excellent spirits; the optimism with which she was disposed to +regard the world at large including Miss Rosser. Carrissima made her +way to a florist's, and after hovering over various kinds of flowers +for ten minutes, at last bought so many pink and yellow roses that she +did not like to carry them through the streets. A taxi-cab soon +brought her to Golfney Place, and Miller did not keep her long at the +street door. + +"Is Miss Rosser at home?" she inquired, as she took a firmer grip of +the rose stalks, which did not seem to be fastened very securely +together. + +"Will you walk in, please," said Miller, leading the way up-stairs. + +When they reached the first landing, Carrissima was about two yards in +the rear. She carried the large bunch of flowers in her left hand as +Miller turned the handle and opened the sitting-room door. At the +same, moment, she came to a sudden halt, starting so violently that the +loosely-fastened roses fell scattering on to the floor. + +The sunlight fell into the room, making it much lighter than the +landing. Full in the glare, Carrissima was appalled to behold two +figures: Mark and Bridget. He, who but yesterday had declared that he +had not seen her for some weeks, that he had no wish ever to see her +again, was to-day holding her in his arms. Her head was thrown back, +her chin invitingly raised; her lips were pressed to his. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HASTY WORDS + +Miller had been too well trained to betray the slightest astonishment +at what he must have seen as distinctly as Carrissima. + +"Miss Faversham," he imperturbably announced, and on the instant Mark's +arms dropped to his side, and Bridget, after a glance which was +overflowing with reproach, turned towards the door. + +"Where is Miss Faversham?" she asked in an unusually high voice, +wondering that she could see no sign of a visitor. + +Miller, glancing aside at the landing, saw Carrissima on her knees by +the balusters, engaged in picking up the scattered roses. Her back was +towards the room, and she wished that her heart would not beat quite so +tumultuously. + +"Oh, do let me help you!" suggested Bridget, going to her side, and +from that instant Carrissima seemed to have only one object in life. +Above all things she wished to lead both Bridget and Mark to believe +that she had seen nothing out of the common! Unable at present to +grasp the complete significance of the revelation which fortunately had +been vouchsafed to her, she perceived, at least, that it implied the +utter destruction of her own recent hopes. Nothing could be worse than +the betrayal of her disillusionment: because obviously she had been the +victim of a rather cruel illusion especially since yesterday. Now her +_savoir faire_ became her most valuable asset. + +"I think I have picked them all up," she said, rising hastily to her +feet, with the roses loose in her hands. + +"How sweet of you to come!" answered Bridget. "Mark is here, too! +What lovely roses," she continued, leading the way into the +sitting-room, as Miller stood on the landing. + +"I am sorry they are so untidy," said Carrissima, with every appearance +of cheerfulness. + +"Are they really for me!" cried Bridget, taking the flowers and placing +them on the table. + +"What a lovely day," said Carrissima, although it was the worst she had +ever known. "Have they sent home the carpet, yet?" she added, as Mark +offered his hand with some embarrassment. He was certainly the most +awkward of the three; the women far surpassing him in _finesse_. + +"Have you been buying a carpet?" asked Bridget, as she laid the flowers +on the table. "How interesting! Do, please, tell me all about it?" + +"For one of my rooms in Weymouth Street," answered Mark. + +"Have you actually taken rooms?" said Bridget. "Too bad not to tell +me!" + +Carrissima, now prepared to recognize deception everywhere, found it +difficult to look cheerful. She had no doubt that Bridget knew all +about the rooms, which Mark began rather eagerly to describe. It was +obvious, however, that he was impatient to get away, and Carrissima, +raising her eyes abruptly, intercepted a curiously entreating glance +from him to Bridget, who at once held out her hand. + +"Shall you be at home this evening?" he asked, turning to Carrissima +the next moment. + +Although she would infinitely have preferred to say "no," to avoid +seeing him again, indeed, as long as the world lasted, she felt afraid +lest she should awaken a suspicion of her enlightenment. It seemed +inevitable that she must continue to meet him in the future as she had +done in the past, and, perhaps, the sooner the next encounter took +place the better! + +"Oh yes, I think so," she answered. "Shall I see you?" + +"I--I thought of looking you up after dinner," said Mark, and the +moment he had left the room Miller, with his usual inscrutable face, +brought in the tea. Not for the world would Carrissima cut short her +visit, and for another quarter of an hour or more she sat listening to +Bridget's inquiries concerning Mark's new quarters and his plans for +the future. + +"I had no idea that he had left Duffield's Hotel," she said presently. +"Mark is a dreadful truant. He never comes near me now! I suppose," +she added, "he is a great friend of Jimmy's?" + +"They and Lawrence were at school together at Brighton," replied +Carrissima, and now she thought she might safely say "good-bye." + +Bridget seemed unwilling to release her hand, as they stood together on +almost the same spot where Carrissima had seen Miss Rosser in Mark's +arms! She looked down at her guest furtively, as if she were unable to +make up her mind about something. Perhaps, thought Carrissima, she was +wondering whether or not it were desirable to do anything further to +remove any possible suspicion! Still, Bridget said nothing unusual, +and having once more thanked Carrissima for the roses she insisted on +going to see her out of the house. + +What a joy it was to breathe the uncontaminated air again! Carrissima +walked in the direction of Grandison Square with her mind in a tumult. +Her god had fallen! She was far too wildly excited to be capable of +anything resembling a sane view of the maddening situation! She longed +above all things to reach home, to run up-stairs to her own room, to +lock the door, to be away from all mankind. + +The pressing question was not whether Mark loved Bridget. That had +already been answered. What she wished to make up her mind about was +the nature of his "love"--much abused word! If he intended to marry +Bridget, why not have said so and have done with it? He had the right +to please himself. + +His secrecy, his deception, surely signified something base! It was +inconceivable that he had not seen her for three weeks--in the face of +what Carrissima had witnessed half-an-hour ago! Why had Mark gone out +of his way to keep his intercourse with Bridget a secret unless there +was something to be ashamed of? Why had he pretended to feel +satisfied, even pleased, at the news of her intimacy with Jimmy? Why, +above everything, had he recently changed his demeanour towards his +oldest friend? + +Carrissima must be pictured as approaching Number 13, Grandison Square +with such thoughts crowding upon her mind, under the influence of the +reaction from her necessary self-control in Bridget's presence. Her +head seemed to be on fire, and, always apt to be impulsive, she had +never in the course of her vast experience of twenty-two years been so +completely carried away as now. + +She experienced a deep pang of disappointment on seeing Sybil talking +to Knight on the doorstep. + +"Oh, I am so very glad not to have missed you!" cried the for once +unwelcome visitor. "How extremely fortunate you were not a minute +later, because I was just going home." + +As a matter of course, without waiting for an invitation, Sybil stepped +into the hall and accompanied Carrissima up-stairs. + +"My dear," she exclaimed, as the butler shut the drawing-room door, +"whatever is the matter? You look as if you had seen something +dreadful!" + +"What nonsense," said Carrissima. "What can I have seen?" + +"I really can't imagine," answered Sybil, with a sigh. "I suppose I +feel so terribly worried myself that I fancy everybody else has +something to bother about. Still, you certainly do look as I have +never seen you before." + +"The sun is quite hot," murmured Carrissima, sitting down by one of the +windows. + +"Although I always feel it I couldn't stay indoors," said Sybil. +"Jimmy is more and more enthusiastic every day. He won't hear a word +of advice! I have begged and implored him to give Miss Rosser up, but +he insists that he is only going to wait until the end of this week. +To think of Jimmy's throwing himself away!" + +"Oh," cried Carrissima, rising impetuously to her feet, "you need not +feel in the least alarmed!" + +"But, my dear, how can I help it?" said Sybil. "I never close my eyes +until past one o'clock, and when I wake it is impossible to get to +sleep again." + +"Well, you may rest in peace for the future," answered Carrissima, +throwing out her arms excitedly. "Sybil, we have both been making the +most dreadful idiots of ourselves!" + +"You forget," suggested Sybil, with a perplexed expression, "that Jimmy +has actually told me he means to marry the woman!" + +"It takes two to make a marriage," said Carrissima. + +"You can't seriously imagine that Miss Rosser would refuse him!" cried +Sybil. + +"It isn't a question of imagination," retorted Carrissima, walking +restlessly about the room. "There are the stubborn facts. I have just +come from Golfney Place!" + +"Surely she didn't tell you----" + +"There was no need for words," said Carrissima. "I can't disbelieve +the evidence of my own eyes, however incredible it may appear." + +"Carrissima!" exclaimed Sybil, "you are making me so painfully curious. +Do, please, tell me what you saw." + +"I saw Mark holding Bridget in his arms!" + +"My dear Carrissima!" + +"I saw him kissing her--oh, how disgusting it is!" said Carrissima, +with a shudder. + +"How shockingly embarrassed you must all have felt," suggested Sybil. + +"Oh dear, no," was the answer. "Neither of them had the slightest idea +they were seen. We all behaved beautifully--beautifully." + +"Well, I must say this is the best news I have heard for a long time," +said Sybil, looking wonderfully relieved. + +"The--the best news!" returned Carrissima, pressing her hands to her +bosom. + +"Of course, if she is going to marry Mark----" + +"I don't believe she is!" said Carrissima. + +"But, my dear, if you actually saw them!" + +"I don't believe it," was the answer. "If he means to marry her what +is the object of all this secrecy? Mark told me only yesterday that he +had not seen her for weeks. I shall never know whom to believe again +as long as I live. While he pretended Bridget was nothing to him, +this--this hateful business has been going on in the background. I +have been afraid she would marry my father; you have dreaded that she +would marry Jimmy, and yet this afternoon I actually saw--oh, it is +abominable. There is only one explanation. There must have been +some--some understanding between them from the first." + +"I always told Jimmy she might not be respectable," said Sybil. + +Hearing that on another's lips, the slightest suggestion of which +already Carrissima regretted should have passed her own, cooler +judgment began to return. In her wrath she had felt prepared to think +anything that was vile of both Mark and Bridget; but only for the +moment. Already she repented that she had opened her heart to Sybil. + +"Oh, I don't want to go too far," she exclaimed. "Of course there must +be some explanation! You quite understand, Sybil! You are not to +repeat a single word which I have said to any one." + +"My dear, I ought to tell Jimmy before it's too late. I am sure only +one conclusion is possible. + +"Jimmy ought to be able to look after himself," urged Carrissima. + +"Ah, there are very few men who can do that where a pretty woman is +concerned," said Sybil. + +"Anyhow," returned Carrissima, "I shall not let you go until you have +given me your solemn promise. You are not to breathe a word--not a +syllable." + +"Of course if you insist----" + +"I do," said Carrissima. "I was idiotic to speak about the odious +thing. You promise you will never repeat a word to any living being!" + +"Very well, my dear," was the docile answer, and then Carrissima +breathed more freely. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +HOW IT HAPPENED + +Mark Driver, on returning from the carpet-purchasing expedition, spent +the evening alone in his Weymouth Street rooms. He had not the least +intention to go near Golfney Place the following day, and every word he +had spoken during the walk home with Carrissima was precisely true. + +He believed he could never live happily without her! As he sat smoking +his pipe that night, he smiled to remember Carrissima at the numerous +warehouses she had visited, and his thoughts wandered back over the +many years of their friendship. + +Fortunate is the man who may count upon one sympathetic listener, too +deeply interested in his most ordinary experiences for boredom; +prepared to take his side (with or without justification) against the +world. So it had always been with Carrissima. Of any scheme, any +opinion, any ambition of his, she invariably tended to think the best. +If ever he accomplished anything more meritorious than usual, she was +always the first to be told; and when he happened to make a mistake, +she would be certain to make light of it. + +At nine o'clock on Tuesday morning Mark had an appointment round the +corner in Beaumont Street. Mr. Randolph Messeter had a serious +operation to perform at a nursing home, and Mark was to administer the +anaesthetic. All had gone well; he had returned to Weymouth Street, +and was in the act of putting away his apparatus, when the telephone +bell rang. + +He was wanted immediately by Lady Scones, in Burnham Crescent, S.W. +Sir Wilford Scones had been one of Doctor Harefield's most lucrative +patients, and naturally Mark felt gratified by the summons. A rapid +examination showed that the patient was seriously ill, and having +telephoned for a trained nurse and written a prescription, Mark left +the house, with a promise to come again during the afternoon. + +On his way home after this second visit at about four o'clock, he +walked past the end of Golfney Place, and, a few yards farther on, saw +a motor-car in which was seated Bridget. As he lifted his hat, she +called to the chauffeur to stop, and seeing she was bent on getting +out, Mark could scarcely do less than open the door. + +"What a stranger!" she cried, holding out her hand. "Weeks and weeks +since you came to see me! Anyhow, you must come now." + +"Sorry," said Mark, "but, upon my word, I haven't much time to +spare----" + +"You won't want much," she insisted. "It's no use, Mark! You've got +to be nice and reasonable, and you must just come in." + +Taking out her purse, she paid the chauffeur--in gold, as Mark could +not help seeing, and, judging by the expression of the man's face, +adding an unusually liberal tip. Without any more excuses, Mark +accompanied her along the secluded street, and, on reaching Number 5, +Bridget admitted him with her latch-key. + +"Where do you think I have been?" she asked, throwing off her cloak as +soon as she entered the sitting-room. + +"I don't see how I can guess without something more to guide me," said +Mark, as she went to the looking-glass, drew some monstrous-headed pins +from her hat, and began to arrange her hair, patting it here, pulling +it there, while Mark admired its quantity and colour. + +"Oh, how the wind has made my cheeks burn," she cried, pressing her +palms against them. "You know how one pines for woods and pastures at +this time of year!" she continued. "A kind of nostalgia! Directly +after breakfast I sent Miller for a motor-car from the garage in the +next street, and I went to Crowborough." + +"Alone?" asked Mark. + +"Didn't you see I was alone? That was the idea, you know. I hadn't +been inside the dear old house since father and I left it four years +ago. There was a board up. It was to be let again, so I rang the bell +and went all over it--round the garden, then to the churchyard. I +suppose you scarcely remember my mother, Mark?" + +"Very indistinctly," he answered, seeing that she was in a somewhat +emotional mood. + +But, to tell the truth, he was inclined to distrust appearances. +During his previous visit to Golfney Place, she had betrayed a certain +amount of feeling, with the deliberate object, he felt convinced, of +awakening his sympathy. On that occasion Bridget had told him about +her pecuniary difficulties, in order to induce him to anticipate +Colonel Faversham. At present he was wondering whether or not she had +a similar end in view. + +"My mother," she said, drawing nearer, "was the best and sweetest woman +in the world. You are a clever man. Tell me how she came to have such +a daughter." + +Surely the late Mrs. Rosser could scarcely have had a more seductive +child! At the moment, she stood almost touching Mark, her chin raised, +gazing up into his eyes. The sunlight fell upon her hair, and he +wished he could refrain from noticing her dimple. + +"What is the matter with her?" he asked. + +"Don't pretend you are so dense," said Bridget, resting a hand on his +shoulder. "I gave myself away the last time you were here, and of +course that's the reason you have never been near me since!" + +She was almost resting against him, either carried away by her emotion +or deliberately trying to lead him on. Mark felt very little doubt as +to her purpose; he was convinced that she was bringing all her +batteries to bear upon him, and it is a painful task to chronicle a +good man's fall! + +On the deplorable impulse of the moment, he put an arm around Bridget +and kissed her lips. Then two alarming things happened. As the door +opened and Miller announced "Miss Faversham," Mark saw from the +shocked, indignant expression on Bridget's face, that on the present +occasion, at least, he had misinterpreted her intention. + +There seemed to be something ironic in the circumstances. Never had +Mark felt more enthusiastic in his devotion to Carrissima than he had +done when he entered Number 5, Golfney Place, this afternoon. Hitherto +when Bridget had in truth been tempting him, he had succeeded in +standing firm; but to-day, when she had been making a sincere appeal +for his help and sympathy, he had lost his self-control. + +But for the fact that Bridget was unwilling, he might not have taken a +very serious view of his own behaviour, especially as it seemed obvious +that Carrissima had appeared on the scene a moment too late to witness +it. Even if she had not dropped her roses on the landing, her +demeanour must have sufficed to lull him into a false sense of +security. Nevertheless, he felt extremely uncomfortable until he left +the room; and indeed he perceived that even his presence at the house +might, after yesterday's protestations, require some explanation. +Hence his suggestion to go to Grandison Square after dinner the same +evening. + +He wished devoutly that he had not made a fool of himself, without +considering that he had been guilty of anything worse than an act of +folly. It was not as if he were actually engaged to Carrissima, +although he was now in a mood to regret that he had ever bestowed a +thought on any other woman since his birth. + +Mark had arranged to see Sir Wilford Scones again before night, and his +intention was to make his way from Burnham Crescent to Grandison +Square; but the question now arose whether he ought not to call upon +Bridget and make some sort of _amende_ for the incident of the +afternoon. + +"Oh, Mark!" she exclaimed, the moment he entered her presence, and +before he found time to speak; "how could you do it! You, of all men! +You always seemed just the one to be trusted. What can there be about +me that you should imagine I was that--that sort of woman?" + +"What was there about me, rather?" said Mark, looking rather +shamefaced. "Bridget, I can only tell you I am immensely sorry." + +"Suppose," she cried, "that Carrissima had seen you! Suppose she had +not dropped her flowers! What would be the use of saying you were +sorry then? She has always been horridly jealous----" + +"Carrissima jealous!" + +"From the first time she came here! I suppose it began that evening +you took me to Belloni's and kept her waiting for dinner. She would +never have forgiven you. Mark, you have had a very, very narrow +escape, and I am not certain you deserve to get off so easily. +Because, don't you see, your treatment of me was the worse on account +of your love for her." + +He stood with a dejected expression on his face, and nothing more was +said, for a few moments; then Bridget lightly rested a hand on his +sleeve. + +"Ah, well," she said, "I don't want to pile up the agony. Besides," +she added, with an obvious effort, "I must be honest. I--I know I have +given you reason to think meanly of me--vilely! But, don't you see, +Mark, I--I have done with all that. I was never so anxious to make the +best of myself. Not that it can conceivably matter." + +Mark left the house in a chastened mood, wondering as he walked towards +Burnham Crescent whether it were possible that she had fallen sincerely +in love with Jimmy Clynesworth. + +Was it likely that, after all her alarums and excursions, she had found +a resting-place at last; that Carrissima was right when she insisted +that Jimmy had ousted Colonel Faversham, but wrong when she imagined +that Bridget's inducement was his larger income? + +"I'm sorry to be so late," said Mark, when at last he entered +Carrissima's presence that evening. + +"Oh, it isn't too late," she answered. "My father is out, and I am +thankful for any one to relieve the monotony of things." + +"The fact is," Mark explained, "I have a serious case near here. I was +kept rather longer than I anticipated. My third visit to-day!" + +"You must be making a rapid fortune," she cried gaily. + +"Anyhow, it's a beginning," he said, adding, after a momentary pause, +"I thought you might be surprised to see me at Golfney Place this +afternoon." + +"No, I don't know that I was," returned Carrissima. "Just a wee bit, +perhaps; but then, you know, one ought never to feel astonished to meet +a doctor anywhere." + +"Oh well, Bridget's not a patient," said Mark, with a smile. "I was on +my way home from Sir Wilford's, when I saw her in a motor-car just by +the corner of Golfney Place. She insisted that I should go in with +her, and because of her importunity I consented." + +"Has the carpet arrived yet?" asked Carrissima. + +"It was laid while I was out this afternoon," was the answer. + +"Well, I hope you approve of my taste." + +"It looks first-rate," said Mark. "The room is transformed. I have +some idea of putting up my fees on the strength of it. I should like +you to come and have a look," he added. + +"Why, of course," returned Carrissima. "I must ask Phoebe to bring me +one afternoon, and you shall give us some more of those delicious +cakes." + +Mark Driver was certainly living in a fool's paradise that evening. He +did not imagine for an instant that he should ever hear of the escapade +again. The incident was ended. Carrissima remained in blissful +ignorance, and he had made his peace with Bridget. + +Bliss, however, was far from Carrissima that night. For one thing, she +blamed herself severely for having opened her heart to Sybil +Clynesworth. Although it seemed obvious that Mark had been playing an +equivocal game, there could, Carrissima felt certain on reflection, be +no justification for the innuendoes which she had allowed herself to +make. The truth was that even now she scarcely knew what she had said +in her wrath. She remembered that odious ideas had flashed unbidden +across her mind--ideas which now appeared as unworthy of herself as of +Mark. + +Still, after making every allowance, her disillusioning remained +complete. How could a man feel an interest in the precise colour of +her own eyes one day and kiss the lips of another woman the next? She +knew that her wish had been father to the thought, and she felt +exceedingly bitter against Miss Bridget Rosser, who appeared still to +have three men dangling at her heels. + +One of these was becoming impatient. Colonel Faversham had reached the +end of his tether. He realized that his authority over Bridget would +not bear a great strain, and accordingly on Wednesday morning he made +his way to Donaldson's, where he purchased a handsome and expensive +jewelled waist-belt, such as she had admired on an actress when he took +her to the play a few evenings ago. Armed with this peace-offering, +Colonel Faversham reached Golfney Place at eleven o'clock on the +morning after Mark Driver's unfortunate visit. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AN APPOINTMENT + +"Oh dear!" cried Bridget, as she clasped the belt round her waist, "how +kind you always are to me!" + +"I don't see why you should sigh about that," answered Colonel +Faversham. "I mean to be kind to you as long as I live, and I hope +that will be a good many years yet. But there's nothing like tit for +tat, you know, Bridget. Come, now, my darling, I want you to be kind +to me." + +"If only you could see into my mind you would say I was a perfect +little wretch!" she murmured, taking off the belt and laying it on a +table. + +"Just as well we can't do that sort of thing," said the colonel. "I +never care for women who are too good for human nature's daily food. +You don't mind if I light a cigar," he added, sitting down with caution. + +"Oh dear, no," she returned, and going to the mantelshelf, brought a +box of matches, one of which she struck, holding it to the end of his +cigar. When he had lighted it, he captured her wrist with elephantine +playfulness. + +"Bridget," he exclaimed, as she laughingly freed herself, "suppose we +cut the cackle and get to the bosses. I think I've been patient long +enough." + +"I have never imagined that patience was your strong point," said +Bridget. + +"Well, well, too much of it makes a man look like a fool," was the +answer, "and besides, to tell the truth, I'm devilish impatient. Who +could look at you and be anything else? What's the use of wasting time +in this way? I could fix things up in a week, and never a word to +Lawrence or Carrissima till we're safely out of England. Come now, +when shall we get married?" + +For a few moments, while Colonel Faversham sat smoking, she did not +answer. She was standing a few yards away, with her fingers +interlocked. Her breath came and went quickly and her face had lost +all its colour. + +"It's no use," she suddenly exclaimed. "I can't tell you." + +"Why not--why not?" demanded Colonel Faversham. "Good gracious, my +little pet isn't frightened of me!" + +"I think I am," she faltered. + +"What is there to be frightened about?" + +"You have always been so kind--I am going to treat you so horridly----" + +"No, you're not," he said. "You're going to make me the dearest little +wife in the world. Come, now, Bridget?" + +He was too fatuously enamoured to dream that she could be struggling +for strength to dismiss him. Her obvious timidity was ascribed to +natural maidenly bashfulness, which made her appear wonderfully +enticing. She clasped her hands more tightly together and turned her +head this way and that, glancing at the windows, at the door, as if she +longed to run away and make her escape from the man whose chief desire +in life was to keep her always by his side. + +He saw her moisten her lips and raise her hands for a moment to her +forehead. + +"I can't say it," she cried. "I suppose I am too great a coward. +You--you shall know to-morrow!" + +"You will fix the day for certain!" said Colonel Faversham eagerly. + +"You shall know to-morrow," she repeated. + +"Now, that," he exclaimed, rising from his chair, "is a promise!" + +"A solemn promise," murmured Bridget; and a few minutes later Colonel +Faversham went away, strutting along the street with his chest puffed +out, walking on air, and certainly never doubting that Bridget's +promise would be fulfilled. At the end of Golfney Place his expression +changed as he saw Jimmy Clynesworth--on his way to No. 5, no doubt! +Well, let Jimmy make the most of his opportunities. He would not find +very many more! Another week or two and Bridget would be whisked away +from England to return as Mrs. Faversham. + +"Some one," remarked Jimmy, as he entered Bridget's sitting-room, "has +been smoking a decent cigar!" + +"Colonel Faversham," replied Bridget. + +"His visit doesn't seem to have bucked you up," said Jimmy, with his +eyes on her face, as he held her hand. "I despise the man who can't +interfere with what doesn't concern him on occasion! I have been +wondering lately whether you can possibly be in any kind of hobble. +Bridget, I should immensely like to help you out." + +This was intended to be the prelude to a formal proposal of marriage. +After keeping silence with difficulty so long, Jimmy considered that +the time had at last come when he might put his fate to the touch. Nor +was he tormented by any very serious doubts concerning her surrender. +Jimmy had seen enough to feel blissfully satisfied that Bridget loved +him, and for his own part, he had never met any other woman whom he +desired to marry. + +"Jimmy!" she murmured, looking up at him wistfully. + +"Bridget," he said, in an equally low and solemn voice. + +"You see--the fact is--I am engaged to Colonel Faversham!" + +Although he suddenly released her hand, she still remained in the same +attitude, watching his face as if waiting to see the effect of her +announcement. + +He drew in a deep breath and thrust his clenched hands into his jacket +pockets. + +"Then I ought to felicitate you," said Jimmy. "Why," he asked quietly, +"didn't you give me the opportunity earlier?" + +"Colonel Faversham didn't wish anybody to be told," she answered. + +"You are consequently not gratifying him by telling me now!" + +"No," said Bridget. + +"Why have you told me?" he demanded. + +"Oh well," she replied, "I felt that I wanted you to know--that is the +only reason." + +"Should you mind telling me something else?" said Jimmy. + +"Anything--anything!" + +"Did the--the auspicious event take place before or since that +afternoon we first met in Grandison Square?" + +"A few days before." + +"I am sorry you kept me in the dark," was the answer. + +"So am I," she said. + +He took one hand out of his pocket and ran his fingers through his hair. + +"You see," he remarked, "I have known the colonel nearly my whole life. +Well, good-bye," he added, holding out his hand. + +"Oh--good-bye," said Bridget, and Jimmy was on his way down-stairs the +next moment, out of the house and losing no time in finding his way +back to Upper Grosvenor Street. Going at once to the smoking-room, he +sat down, and leaning forward, covered his face with his hands. In +this dejected attitude Sybil found him a few minutes later. As he had +obviously not observed her entrance, she went to his side, resting a +hand on his shoulder. + +"My dearest Jimmy," she explained, "whatever is the matter?" + +Rising from his chair, he walked to the mantelshelf, took a cigarette +from a box and lighted it. + +"I may as well get it off my chest," he said. "I went to ask Bridget +to marry me." + +"Oh--Jimmy!" was the reproachful answer. + +"You needn't bother yourself," he explained. "She took the wind out of +my sails by the announcement that she was affianced to old Faversham +before I saw her face." + +"To Colonel Faversham!" cried Sybil. "Poor Carrissima!" + +Sybil, it is true, had too much experience to be actually astonished at +such enormity, but nevertheless she was deeply shocked. Why, Miss +Rosser was engaged to be married to the colonel at the time when she +had been seen in Mark Driver's arms. + +"Understand," said Jimmy, "Carrissima is not to be told. No one knows +but the two concerned and myself. I was never so sorely tempted in my +life." + +"Tempted!" exclaimed Sybil. + +"To play the part of Young Lochinvar, you know. She would have gone +with me!" he added excitedly. "She would have gone with me!" + +"My dear," returned his sister, "you could surely never dream of acting +so dishonourably. Such an old friend as Colonel Faversham, too!" + +"Oh yes, I dreamed of it," said Jimmy. "You know they say we're all no +better than we should be in our dreams. My difficulty was that I woke +too soon!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +IN SIGHT OF PORT + +"Good-morning, Carrissima!" said Colonel Faversham on Thursday morning, +rubbing his palms briskly together as he entered the dining-room. "It +looks as if there's going to be a change in the weather. A little rain +will do good." + +"Will it?" answered Carrissima, perfunctorily. + +"What's the matter?" he demanded. "You're not eating anything. Always +have a good breakfast. Lay a foundation for the day. Look at me! +When my appetite fails, I shall begin to think it's time I gave in." + +He made an enormous breakfast, and when at last it ended, took out his +cigar-case. Having lighted a cigar, he carried the newspaper to his +smoking-room and sat down, only to get up again the next minute. He +did not care a scrap about the news! The Socialists might upset the +constitution for all Colonel Faversham minded this morning! His +thoughts already outran him to Golfney Place, where he fully expected +to hear from Bridget's lips that she should be prepared to marry him +within a week or a fortnight at the latest. + +How enchantingly coy the dear girl had been yesterday! Taking down a +Continental Bradshaw from one of the bookshelves, he looked up the +route to Milan. She had chosen Rome, Naples and Capri for the +honeymoon, and of course she should have her own way! Unable to +control his impatience after half-past ten, Colonel Faversham went to +his dressing-room, limping up-stairs as no one was looking, and +imparted a more militant twirl to his moustache. When he reached the +hall again Knight held his thin overcoat and handed his top-hat, gloves +and malacca cane. + +Seeing a taxi-cab Colonel Faversham hailed it, so that he reached +Golfney Place earlier than ever before. As he rang the bell he could +scarcely control his muscles. He coughed so violently that one or two +people looked back at him in passing. He shifted the position of his +hat so often as he waited for Miller to open the door, that he might +have been making a series of automatic bows to imaginary acquaintances. +He stamped his feet and felt that his necktie was in the middle of his +shirt front, and then he rang a second time. + +"Good heavens!" he muttered, "why can't the man come! Why can't he let +me in!" + +Miller opened the door at last, in the act of thrusting one arm into +his coat. By the time Colonel Faversham had crossed the threshold the +butler had assumed his usual deferential stoop and his manner was as +suave as ever. + +"Good-morning, Miller," said Colonel Faversham, pacified the instant he +obtained admittance. "I am rather early. Miss Rosser?" + +"Miss Rosser is not here, colonel," was the astounding answer. + +"Not here! Good gracious! What do you mean?" + +"Miss Rosser left the house at half-past three yesterday afternoon, +colonel." + +"Do you mean to tell me she has not returned?" demanded Colonel +Faversham. + +"No," said Miller. + +"But I have an appointment with her this morning!" + +"I understand that Miss Rosser is not coming back, colonel," answered +Miller. + +Colonel Faversham was ceasing to look entirely bewildered. He grew +exceedingly red in the face; his eyes appeared to be starting out of +his head. Horrible thoughts occurred to him. He glared at Miller as +if he were responsible for Bridget's departure, and with miserable +sensations he began to put a new interpretation upon the coyness which +he had found so seductive yesterday morning. + +"Miss Rosser," said Miller, "left a letter for you." + +"Why on earth couldn't you tell me so at once!" demanded Colonel +Faversham. + +"And a parcel," said Miller. + +"Where are they? Where are they?" exclaimed the colonel; and Miller +went to the rear of the hall, returning the next moment with a +fair-sized, brown-paper parcel in his hand. It obviously contained the +crocodile-hide dressing-bag, which had been Bridget's birthday present; +the handle, indeed, projected for convenience of transport. + +"Would you like to step into the dining-room, colonel?" suggested +Miller, giving him a square envelope. + +"Damn the dining-room!" shouted Colonel Faversham, as with trembling +fingers he broke the seal, whilst Miller still held the bag. Colonel +Faversham did not wait to fix his eye-glass. + + +"DEAR COLONEL FAVERSHAM" (he read), + +"How sorry I am to give you pain, and I know that I am doing so. I +cannot possibly marry you, and I have not the courage to say so to your +face. Why didn't you understand how hard I tried to tell you this +morning--you really might have helped me out! You have always been so +very kind. I positively hate to treat you badly. I have put all your +presents inside the dressing-bag. Please try to forgive me, although I +don't suppose you ever will! If it is any consolation to you, I +feel--oh, so miserable! + +"Yours sincerely, + +"BRIDGET ROSSER." + + +Although the contents of the letter were easy enough to master, Colonel +Faversham must needs fix his monocle, in order to read it again. "That +infernal Jimmy!" he muttered, then folded the sheet of paper and +bestowed it in his breast pocket. + +"The parcel, colonel," suggested Miller, as he turned towards the door. + +For a moment Colonel Faversham stood scowling at the butler and what he +held in his hand. His first impulse was to refuse to have anything to +do with it; but, after all, its contents were of considerable value. +He might, perhaps, leave it at his club, although it could not remain +there for ever, and perhaps it would be better to take it at once to +Grandison Square and lock it up in the smoking-room cupboard. + +At last he put out his hand, and came forth to the doorstep holding the +crocodile-hide bag. + +"Good-morning, colonel!" said Miller, but although his tone was even +more suave and respectful than usual, Colonel Faversham fancied he +detected in it something ironic. No doubt the man had formed his own +opinion as to what was going on; but, thank goodness, nobody outside +Number 5, Golfney Place had the faintest suspicion of his engagement! + +He quite understood that this was broken beyond repair. Colonel +Faversham knew when he was beaten. He had been treated in the most +abominable manner, and he never desired to see Bridget's face again. +Unaccustomed to carry a parcel through the streets, he was annoyed +inasmuch as he could not see any kind of cab until he drew near to his +own house, and unfortunately Carrissima happened to be looking out at +the dining-room window. + +She could not, however, see his face, and as he had left home in such +ebullient spirits a little while ago, she went to meet him in the hall, +where her eyes at once fell upon the bag. + +"What is that?" she asked brightly. "A present for little Victor?" + +"No," exclaimed the colonel, mimicking her voice, "it isn't a present +for little Victor! What in the world should I be doing with a present +for little Victor at this hour of the day?" + +She naturally perceived that something must have occurred seriously to +ruffle him, even if he had not slammed the door of the smoking-room so +violently behind him. It did not take Carrissima long to draw her own +conclusions. It is true she was ignorant of her father's engagement to +Bridget, but she had anticipated his deposition by Jimmy Clynesworth, +until Mark's conduct had complicated the outlook. On the whole, +Carrissima was inclined to think that the climax had been reached this +morning; that Colonel Faversham, having gone to Golfney Place, had +quarrelled with Bridget, who had insisted on returning such presents as +he had from time to time given to her. + +While Colonel Faversham remained hidden in his smoking-room, +Carrissima's mind was busy with his affairs, until about three-quarters +of an hour later she happened to be crossing the hall, and saw Jimmy on +the doorstep in conversation with Knight. + +"Oh, Jimmy!" she exclaimed, "do come in!" + +Without any hesitation he entered the hall, accompanying her up-stairs +to the drawing-room. + +"I don't know whether you have heard the news," he said, as he shut the +door. + +"Not a word!" was the answer. "I am positively dying to hear it." + +A smile broke over Jimmy's face. + +"Bridget has left Golfney Place!" he cried. + +"When did she go?" asked Carrissima. + +"At half-past three yesterday afternoon." + +"Has she sought refuge where she ought to have sought it long ago?" + +"Where is that?" demanded Jimmy. + +"With her aunts at Sandbay!" + +"By the bye," he said, "can you tell me their name?" + +"Now--let me see!" answered Carrissima, reflecting for an instant. "Oh +yes--Dobson. I feel certain that is right. It sounds quite ordinary, +doesn't it?" + +Jimmy Clynesworth had gone to bed the previous night, but not to sleep +very early, with the fixed determination to stand clear of Bridget for +the future. He felt, indeed, too distrustful of himself to re-approach +her and yet remain loyal to his old friend Colonel Faversham. + +When, however, he went into his own den to smoke an after-breakfast +pipe, the first thing his eyes rested upon was a copy of one of David +Rosser's novels. It obviously ought to be returned! He knew that +Bridget valued her complete collection of her father's works. Of +course nothing would have been easier than to send it by his man, or, +for that matter, by the parcel post. + +But Jimmy determined to take back the book in person; he would not +enter the house, he would leave it at the door and just ask Miller how +Bridget was this morning! At the back of his mind probably was some +subconscious, unrecognized desire to seize any chance of seeing her +once more if only for a moment, but on reaching the house he heard a +repetition of the story with which Miller had overwhelmed Colonel +Faversham. + +For the instant Jimmy also was almost overwhelmed, but by vastly +different sensations. He had no suspicion that Bridget intended to +break off her engagement until the moment when Miller told him of the +colonel's recent visit. Then Jimmy reached the truth by a leap. +Bridget had gone away to escape from her elderly _fiance_! At the time +Jimmy believed that her announcement yesterday morning was prompted by +a sense of duty--a little belated, no doubt. + +She saw how it was with him, but having already plighted her troth she +felt compelled to issue that unexpected warning. Now, however, Jimmy +saw her conduct in another light. She had made up her mind to have +done with Colonel Faversham at all costs! Lacking the courage to tell +him so to his face, she had opened her heart to the man whom she loved +and on whose love she counted. + +From Bridget's point of view, Jimmy saw that he had failed her at the +pinch. Still, she had acted for herself, not, perhaps, in the most +desirable manner! Still, she must have made her bid for freedom, and +now it came to the point, this seemed to be all that Jimmy cared about. +It is true he had spoken to Bridget of his high regard for candour, but +even that by no means equalled his regard for herself. + +Whatever she had done, and Jimmy perceived that she must have treated +Colonel Faversham less than well, this was not the time for criticism. +The salient fact was that she had shaken herself free! Such a +desirable end appeared to excuse almost any means. Bridget's +disappearance did not in the least alarm him. There would be little +difficulty in finding her again; the point was that he had become +justified in undertaking the search. + +Having thanked and tipped Miller, Jimmy set about the quest at once, +and determined to take the bull by the horns. He would go to Grandison +Square in the first place, see Colonel Faversham, and ascertain beyond +a doubt that the coast was clear. Colonel Faversham, too, or +Carrissima might perchance be able to suggest some clue to Bridget's +hiding-place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JIMMY SETS TO WORK + +"Is Colonel Faversham at home?" asked Jimmy. + +"Do you wish to see him!" said Carrissima. + +"Well, yes," was the answer, "I do--rather particularly." + +"Because he is not in the very best mood for a visitor," said +Carrissima. "At the present moment he is shut up in his smoking-room. +I give you a fair warning, Jimmy!" + +"I think I shall have to risk it," he returned. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Carrissima. "How tremendously curious you make +me! Although I'm entirely in the dark, I feel certain that important +events are happening. You see, Jimmy, my father is constantly at +Golfney Place--so are you! This morning he came home unusually +early--actually with a large parcel in his hand. He had a face like +ever so many thunder-clouds. Do you think there has been any sort +of--of disagreement between Bridget and the colonel?" + +"Why, yes," said Jimmy, "I fancy you've hit the mark!" + +"I wish you wouldn't be so dreadfully mysterious," she answered. "Now, +why can't you tell me what it is all about?" + +He could not see his way to gratify her. Bridget had insisted that the +engagement had remained a secret at Colonel Faversham's wish, and Jimmy +had no wish to make things unpleasant for him at home. He had told +Sybil, it was true, but probably he would not even have enlightened his +sister if he had taken time for reflection. + +"Do you think," asked Jimmy, instead of replying to Carrissima's +question, "that Bridget would be likely to go abroad again?" + +"Jimmy," she answered seriously, "wherever she may have gone, you will +be wise to take my advice." + +"What is that?" + +"To make no attempt to follow her!" + +Jimmy laughed at this, and reminded Carrissima of his wish to speak to +Colonel Faversham. Somewhat reluctantly she accompanied him +down-stairs again, and opened the door of the smoking-room, taking the +precaution to make as much noise as possible with the handle. + +Colonel Faversham looked the embodiment of dejection, when at last, +followed by Jimmy, she entered his room. He was sitting in an +easy-chair, leaning forward with his hands to his head. All his usual +exuberance appeared to have left him; he looked quite old and feeble. +Seeing Jimmy, he scowled fiercely, making no attempt to rise or to +offer his hand. + +"Good-morning, colonel," said the visitor cheerfully. "Sorry if I am +disturbing you, but I wanted a few words, if you can spare a minute." + +"A broad hint for me to go," cried Carrissima, backing towards the +door, with the most painful curiosity. + +"Well, what is it?" demanded Colonel Faversham, as soon as he was alone +with Jimmy. + +"I am going to ask you a straight question!" was the answer. "I have +heard of your engagement----" + +"Who the devil told you?" exclaimed Colonel Faversham, sitting suddenly +erect. + +"Well, you know," said Jimmy, "I imagine there was only one person who +had it in her power to tell me." + +"Bridget, you mean?" + +"Yes," replied Jimmy. + +"When was that?" + +"Just after you left her yesterday morning." + +Rising from his chair, Colonel Faversham seemed to pull himself +together. He blew out his cheeks, put back his shoulders and fixed his +eyeglass as if he wished to examine Jimmy more distinctly. + +"I should like to know," he said, "what my engagement has to do with +you!" + +"Nothing in the world," returned Jimmy, "if it still exists. That is +all I am anxious to hear--whether it does or not." + +Colonel Faversham stood glaring into Jimmy's face. So it was true, as +he had suspected, that he had been thrown over for the benefit of this +confounded fellow, who had the audacity to catechize him! Well, the +battle was to the young! Colonel Faversham set it down to that. He +must be growing old, hang it all! and here was Jimmy Clynesworth, whom +he had nursed as a small boy, civil enough, as far as that went, but +probably laughing in his sleeve, as those who win may. + +"Jimmy," said the colonel, with a chastened and rather pathetic air, "I +tell you what it is. I've been infernally badly treated. No use to +mince matters. I've been jilted, sir. Jilted!" + +"I suppose I may gather from that," suggested Jimmy, striving to keep +anything resembling elation from his voice, "that, as far as you're +concerned, Bridget is free----" + +"Free!" cried Colonel Faversham. "Any woman can easily be free who +attaches no value to her most solemn vows. Free! Good gracious! How +can a man bind such a wench?" + +"Thank you," said Jimmy, turning towards the door, "that's all I wanted +to hear!" + +His position did not appear very enviable, because while he could not +tolerate any abuse of Bridget, to tell the truth it was impossible to +say a word in her defence. + +"One minute--one minute, Jimmy!" cried Colonel Faversham. "The more I +think of it, the more extraordinary this visit of yours seems! As a +boy you always had plenty of cheek! Between ourselves! You seem to +know a good deal. I hope to goodness you haven't blabbed to +Carrissima!" + +"About your engagement, do you mean?" + +"Yes, yes," said the colonel impatiently. + +"I haven't said a word. In fact, she has not the remotest idea of +anything of the kind." + +"Well, that's a blessing," was the answer, and Jimmy went away, getting +out of the house without seeing Carrissima again. The moment he +reached Upper Grosvenor Street he inquired for Sybil, and being told +she was in her own room, mounted the stairs several treads at a time. + +"May I come in?" he asked, tapping at her door. + +"Whatever is the matter now, Jimmy?" exclaimed Sybil, throwing it open. + +"Well, it has been a wonderful morning," he explained. "I have got a +free hand. Bridget has thrown old Faversham over." + +"My dear," said Sybil, "how extremely barefaced!" + +"I have seen him," Jimmy continued. "There is nothing on earth in my +way. All I have to do is to find her, and that won't take many days." + +While he stood outside Sybil's bedroom door, explaining how he had +heard the news of Bridget's departure from Golfney Place, his sister +underwent the sorest temptation of her life. Surely no situation could +be more tantalizing. If it were not for the solemn promise she had +made to Carrissima, how easy it would prove to keep Jimmy from the +pursuit which might end in his ruin! + +Although he remained so strangely uninfluenced by the knowledge of +Bridget's engagement to Colonel Faversham, her simultaneous intrigue +with Mark Driver could scarcely fail to bring Jimmy to his senses. For +the present, however, Sybil tried to hope that there might be more +difficulty in running his quarry to earth than he anticipated. She +might indeed be hiding somewhere perplexingly close at hand; and most +likely Mark held the clue! + +Jimmy lost no time in setting to work in earnest. In the first place, +he inserted advertisements in the halfpenny evening papers and such of +their morning contemporaries as made a special feature of betting news. +These he thought would be most in favour amongst taxi-cab drivers, and, +of course, the important thing was to discover the man who had driven +"a lady and her luggage from No. 5, Golfney Place" that fateful +afternoon. + +Not content with this, Jimmy motored to Sandbay, and stopping at a +stationer's shop, succeeded in purchasing a local Directory. In this +he found the name of "Dobson, the Misses," who lived at No. 8, Downside +Road. The house was named "Fairbank." Thither Jimmy drove at once, +and few thoroughfares could have had a more sedately retired +appearance. A wide, gravelled roadway, smoothly rolled, with red-brick +villas all precisely alike on one side, and yellow-brick villas, +equally uniform, on the other. + +There must have been fewer than the average number of children in the +neighbourhood, and these must have been unusually silent and well +conducted. Such dogs as there were always went out with a lead, and +often wearing neat little home-made coats, with a leather strap instead +of a collar. + +On almost every gate a metal label was affixed: "No hawkers or street +musicians." In the most sedate of the red-brick villas with the +neatest front garden, lived the Misses Dobson. If any one ever +ventured to speak of them in their hearing as the "Miss Dobsons" he was +certain to be corrected. In truth, "The Misses Dobson" seemed to +describe them far more accurately. + +The difference between their ages was only eighteen months, and casual +observers assumed that they were twins. They invariably dressed alike, +in a fashion which had become out of date in London several years +before. They never went out separately, and in order that the same +ideas should penetrate their minds at the same moment, one of the pair +read aloud while the other sewed and listened. + +Well-to-do in the world, they were exceedingly kind to the poor, and +they had never succeeded in grasping Bridget's reasons for refusing to +accept their hospitality. This afternoon they were sitting together in +their superlatively neat drawing-room, and Miss Dobson was knitting +while Miss Frances was reading a novel from the circulating library. +In the middle of chapter four they were astonished to hear the unwonted +sound of a motor-car, and when the sentence was finished they both rose +and walked to the window. + +There stood a large red car, with a chauffeur in dark-grey livery with +a light-brown fur rug round his knees. Before their astonishment +permitted the remark that some one must have stopped at the wrong +house, the door opened and the most demure parlour-maid in England +stood nervously holding the handle. + +"A gentleman in a motor-car," said Selina. + +"I think," answered Miss Dobson, "that he must have made a mistake in +the number." + +"He asked for Miss Dobson," said Selina. "Not knowing the name, I left +him in the hall." + +"Quite right," returned Miss Frances. + +"Name o' Clynesworth," said Selina. + +"Perhaps," suggested Miss Dobson, "he wishes to sell something." + +"A motor-car!" remarked Miss Frances. + +"I suppose we ought to receive him," said her sister, and accordingly +Jimmy was conducted to the drawing-room, where he at once began to make +an almost abject apology. + +"My only excuse," he concluded, "is that I have the honour to call +myself a friend of Miss Rosser's." + +"Our dearest niece," murmured Miss Dobson. + +"You may know," said Jimmy, who had scarcely ever felt quite so nervous +in his life, "that Bridget has been living at No. 5, Golfney Place!" + +"Extremely unsuitable on all accounts," answered Miss Dobson. + +"Extremely," said Miss Frances. + +"As she left her rooms the day before yesterday," Jimmy explained, "I +thought it possible she might have come to you." + +"We sincerely wish she had," said Miss Dobson. + +"Sincerely," said Miss Frances. + +"You may think it is rather strange that I should be pursuing Bridget +in this way," suggested Jimmy. + +"We do," said Miss Dobson. + +"My object," continued Jimmy, "is to ask her to marry me!" + +"Will you kindly take a chair," cried Miss Dobson, and they all looked +about as if to make certain there was nothing in the way, and then sat +down. "The present," Miss Dobson added, "may not be the most suitable +occasion to inquire concerning your eligibility. My niece is a sweet +girl." + +"I entirely agree with you," said Jimmy. + +"A little impulsive, it may be," said Miss Dobson. + +"Perhaps, a little," murmured Miss Frances. + +"But exceedingly good to her father after our poor sister's death." + +"Very, very good," said Miss Frances, and both sisters blinked their +eyes as Jimmy rose to say "good-bye." He was, however, not to make his +escape just yet. The Misses Dobson were obviously disturbed in mind. +They could not tolerate the idea of Bridget's whereabouts remaining +unknown, and all Jimmy's coolness and assurance were required to +restore them to anything resembling tranquillity. + +He left the house with a feeling that the scent of lavender must be +still clinging to his clothes, and the next morning found him at +Crowborough. There, however, he could obtain no news of Bridget, and +now he began to wonder whether it was probable she had gone to Paris, +where she had lived with David Rosser during the last years of his +life. It was on Monday morning that Sybil saw Jimmy in the act of +parting from a stranger at the door. + +"Who was your visitor?" she inquired, having waited in the dining-room +for the purpose. + +"A man named Winchester--a private detective," said Jimmy. + +"Oh, my dear!" exclaimed Sybil, "how sincerely I wish you would let +Miss Rosser go her own way!" + +"Haven't I succeeded yet," demanded Jimmy, "in making you understand +that her way will always be mine?" + +"And yet you know how horridly she treated poor Colonel Faversham, +Jimmy. You have always insisted on truth and honesty before +anything----" + +"Now I only insist," said Jimmy, "that Bridget shall become my wife." + +At this Sybil grew reckless. + +"Jimmy," she cried, "it is really quite impossible." + +"Why?" he demanded. + +"My dear, I scarcely like to say the words, but she knew Mark Driver +long before she knew you." + +"Well, I hope she will see a good deal of old Mark in the future also," +answered Jimmy. "You force me to break my word," said Sybil, with +considerable emotion. "Carrissima will never forgive me. I am sure +she won't. But I really cannot keep silence while you go to +destruction. I really can't. I promised I would never breathe a +syllable----" + +"Would you mind," urged Jimmy, "breathing it quickly!" + +"There has been an--an understanding between Miss Rosser and Mark from +the very first," said Sybil. + +"Oh, you mustn't talk foolishness," returned Jimmy. + +"Carrissima saw them----" + +"What in the world did she see?" + +"She happened to go to Golfney Place unexpectedly the afternoon before +Miss Rosser left," Sybil explained. "She saw the girl in--in Mark's +arms. Jimmy, he was kissing her; actually kissing her, and all the +time she must have been engaged to Colonel Faversham." + +"Nonsense," said Jimmy; "I don't believe a word of it." + +"Do you imagine that Carrissima could possibly tell me an untruth?" +demanded Sybil. "She was half beside herself when I met her, or she +would never have said a word." + +"Now," suggested Jimmy, "you have hit the explanation. Carrissima was +beside herself. Of course," he added, "I shall clear the matter up, +but I tell you, to begin with, I don't believe a word of it." + +"How Carrissima managed to carry it off," said Sybil, "seems wonderful +to me." + +"A wonderful story altogether," returned Jimmy. + +"Neither Mark nor--nor his companion had the slightest idea they were +discovered," said Sybil. + +"Oh, then Carrissima didn't tackle the fellow!" + +"How could she?" asked Sybil. "You see, she had no actual right to +complain! Mark Driver, I dare say, would consider himself free to--to +kiss any woman he pleased." + +"Anyhow," said Jimmy, with all the assurance in the world, "he didn't +kiss Bridget." + +"Oh, how can you be so blind!" exclaimed his sister. + +"When other people see so much," he answered, "what can be more +desirable?" + +"Well," said Sybil, with tears in her eyes, "I have told you what +Carrissima saw, and naturally she drew her own conclusions." + +"What were they?" asked Jimmy, thrusting his hands deep in his jacket +pockets. + +"You are bound," Sybil explained, "to take into consideration what had +gone before. Only a few hours earlier Mark told Carrissima that he +hadn't seen Miss Rosser for some weeks. He said he never wished to see +her again. Then in face of that, Carrissima went to Golfney Place, and +there was the woman in his arms." + +"Well," cried Jimmy, "we shall hear what Mark has to say about it." + +"My dear," said Sybil nervously, "I do hope and trust you won't get me +into trouble. I should never have uttered a word if it were not for +your good." + +"Any one would imagine," was the answer, "that I had been wrapped in +cotton-wool all my life. I suppose I should have been if you could +have managed it. Well, I am off to Weymouth Street at once," added +Jimmy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +INCRIMINATING HIMSELF + +Carrissima felt compelled to go to Charteris Street. She could not +resist the temptation of telling Lawrence this latest news about their +father and Bridget, whose departure from Golfney Place made him quite +genial. + +"The best thing I've heard for a long time," he exclaimed. "Let us +hope we've all seen the last of her." + +Lawrence found points of interest in the situation. If, as Carrissima +insisted, Colonel Faversham had been in the habit of making Bridget +frequent presents, and had now received them back, surely matters must +have advanced farther than anybody believed. There was something +formal about such a restitution, and perhaps they had even more than +they knew to feel thankful for. + +He took Phoebe to Grandison Square after dinner on Sunday evening in +order to observe for himself the change in Colonel Faversham's +demeanour, at which Carrissima had hinted. Certainly the colonel had +not much to say even concerning the progress of the Parliament Bill +through the House of Commons, and presently Lawrence skilfully +introduced Bridget's name. + +"By the bye," he asked, turning to Carrissima, "you haven't discovered +Miss Rosser's address yet?" + +"I haven't tried," was the answer, as Colonel Faversham's cough became +troublesome. + +"You ought to get Mark to give you something for it," suggested +Lawrence, and the colonel was explaining that it was merely a tickling +in his throat, when, opportunely, Mark Driver entered the room. + +During his hospital days, he would often look in at Grandison Square on +Sunday evenings, and just now he felt a greater longing for +Carrissima's society than ever in his life before, as one may pine for +a cooling draught on the morning following a night's carouse. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Lawrence, "here's the man who may be able to enlighten +us." + +"What about?" asked Mark, as he shook hands with one after another. + +"The bird that's flown," said Lawrence, with a laugh. + +"Who's that?" + +"Bridget," Carrissima explained, "has gone away from Golfney Place." + +"And left no address!" cried her brother. + +Carrissima, having now recovered her usual common-sense, did not for a +moment imagine that Mark's astonishment was counterfeited. She felt +certain that his inquiries were perfectly sincere, bewildered as she +still remained whenever she thought of his conduct that afternoon of +disillusion. + +She had dropped back into the habit which had prevailed so long, and +was once more regulating her demeanour with a fervent desire to +deceive. She was convinced of one fact at the least. She had counted +her chicks before they were hatched; it appeared impossible, in the +face of what she had witnessed, that Mark could entertain the shadow of +a regard for her. Still, it was obvious that he knew nothing more +about Bridget's movements than Jimmy or Colonel Faversham, who made a +valiant effort to change the subject by asking Mark whether he had +anything to do. As it happened, he was quite busy in his incipient +way. Sir Wilford Scones was seriously ill, and Randolph Messeter had +been called in for a consultation. There would probably be an +operation before the week ended. With the deliberate intention of +creating a favourable impression on the colonel, for whose daughter's +hand he was on the point of asking, Mark explained that Harefield's +practice was turning out far better than could have been expected. Now +and then he glanced significantly at Carrissima, who might have bidden +him "good-bye" very happily if Bridget Rosser had never entered her +life. + +The next morning, at about twelve o'clock, Mark was in his +consulting-room when Jimmy was announced. Sybil had seen him leave +Upper Grosvenor Street with considerable misgiving, dreading lest his +interview with Mark should lead to trouble with Carrissima. She sighed +to remember his scepticism about Bridget's backsliding, and felt +confident that her brother was on his way to a very painful ordeal. + +Jimmy, for his own part, had scarcely attempted to explain the +discrepancy between Sybil's story and his own ideal of Bridget. +Otherwise he might, perhaps, have come to the conclusion that +Carrissima had exaggerated, while Sybil had added a little more ghastly +colour. Sybil was sometimes given to that kind of trick. + +That Mark was nothing to Bridget, never had been anything to her, Jimmy +felt certain. Driver had, indeed, dropped so completely out of her +life that it had not seemed worth while to take the trouble to go to +Weymouth Street in the hope of discovering a clue to her present +abiding-place. In any case, Jimmy reached the house this Monday +morning with a conviction that the scandalous fiction would at once be +exploded. + +He came to the point at once. + +"Rather an unpleasant business has brought me here, Mark," he +exclaimed. "To begin with, there's one thing I want to say. +Understand I believe the whole story is a _canard_." + +"What story?" asked Mark, sitting in his swivel-chair on one side of +the leather-topped writing-table, while Jimmy stood a foot from the +other. + +"Of course," Jimmy continued, "I know there's not a grain of truth in +it. Still when such an abominable accusation has been made, it's just +as well to lose no time in scotching it." + +Mark Driver had not the least suspicion. He sat with one elbow on the +table, one hand supporting his chin, his handsome, alert face wearing +the somewhat grave expression suitable to his professional environment. +His visit to Grandison Square the previous evening alone would have +been enough to prove, if proof were necessary, that Carrissima remained +blissfully ignorant of that trivial act of folly in Golfney Place. An +excellent test had been provided. Bridget's departure had been freely +discussed, and Carrissima had not shown the slightest embarrassment. +She had bidden him "good-bye" at eleven o'clock, and Colonel Faversham +had encouraged him to come again before many days. They were always +pleased to see him! + +"But who in the world has been making an accusation?" asked Mark. + +"Sybil--at least it originated with Carrissima," said Jimmy. + +"My dear chap," retorted Mark warmly, "surely you must know that +Carrissima is the very last person to make an accusation, founded or +unfounded, against anybody." + +"I should have thought so," Jimmy admitted. + +"Whom is it against?" + +"Bridget. I am bound to bring it out," said Jimmy. "The fact is +Carrissima insists that you two have been gulling us all. To put it +plainly, she declares there has been what she rather euphemistically +calls 'an understanding' between you from first to last." + +Mark was on his feet before Jimmy ceased speaking, but even now he did +not perceive the real inwardness of the situation. The statement +sounded incredible. If there was one fact of which this somewhat +sceptical man was absolutely convinced, it was that whether Carrissima +loved him well enough to marry him or not, she at least entertained the +very highest opinion of him. + +"You must be dreaming!" he cried. "Carrissima could never have said +anything of the kind." + +"Anyhow," answered Jimmy, "I had it from Sybil an hour or so ago." + +"But, my dear fellow," Mark expostulated, "it's simply inconceivable. +Carrissima knows that Bridget is nothing to me. To tell you the truth, +I had my own reasons for going out of my way to tell her so." + +"You thought it necessary!" exclaimed Jimmy hastily. + +"Oh well," said Mark, "I had fallen into the habit of going to Golfney +Place rather often--that was before I went to Yorkshire--as far back as +January. Carrissima had the idea that I admired the girl; so I did, +for that matter--who wouldn't? But she could never have told Sybil +that! She couldn't think anything of the sort without setting me down +as a thorough-paced liar at the least." + +"The odd part of it is," replied Jimmy, "that, according to Sybil, +Carrissima went in for particulars." + +"Oh, let me hear them," said Mark, sitting down again. + +He was just beginning to wonder. Was it possible that Carrissima had +not dropped those flowers until after she had obtained a glimpse of the +interior of Bridget's sitting-room? But, even so, she could never +build such an abominable theory on that ludicrously insufficient +evidence. + +"Well," said Jimmy, "Carrissima insists that she saw you holding +Bridget in your arms--in the act of kissing her, to put it plainly." + +This was a trying moment for Mark Driver. His face was crimson, and he +would have given a great deal to be able to deny the too soft +impeachment. As this was impossible, he lost his temper with +Carrissima. Egoism was probably the prime factor in his present mood. +He thought less of the excuse he had provided than of the painful +circumstance that he had been cutting such a sorry figure in her eyes. + +While he flattered himself that she regarded him as a kind of king who +could do no wrong, she had, in truth, looked upon him as a pretty +contemptible scoundrel. It seemed an additional offence that she +should have dissembled her opinion, so that when he, being beguiled, +asked her to marry him, she might coolly send him about his business. + +A suspicion of something, perhaps, resembling insincerity in his own +conduct made him only more intolerant of hers. He saw now how much +better it would have been, instead of trusting for immunity to her +ignorance, to have taken his courage in his hands and made a clean +breast of what, after all, was only a venial offence. A counsel of +perfection, no doubt, but Mark wished that he had followed it. + +He was deeply wounded in the most sensitive part, but while admitting +his weakness in yielding to a commonplace temptation, he could make no +excuse for Carrissima's scandalous libel. An hour ago, she had been +the only woman in the world for him; as to Bridget--well, the old Adam +had cropped out for an instant. To account for his vulnerability one +must embark on a study of the theory of Evolution! If he had been +actually affianced to Carrissima, the case would, no doubt, have been +more serious, although even then there could be no justification for +her shameful accusation. But he was not affianced to her, and, in the +face of what he had just heard, he never wished to be. + +Jimmy saw that Mark was deeply moved, and made a shrewd guess at the +cause. In a friendly way, he walked round the writing-table, and +standing by the side of the chair, rested a hand on the other's +shoulder. + +"I shouldn't take it too seriously," he said. "You'll generally find +there's a way out somehow. You know I told you, to begin with, that I +knew it was an infernal lie!" + +"But--you see--it wasn't," answered Mark. + +"I don't understand," said Jimmy, withdrawing his hand. + +"It's perfectly true," muttered Mark, moistening his lips, "that +Carrissima came to Golfney Place and saw me----" + +"Saw you--saw you with Bridget in your arms! Good Lord!" exclaimed +Jimmy, gazing down at Mark's bowed head. + +Rising from his chair, Mark gripped one lapelle of his frock coat in +each hand as he paced the small room. + +"She was talking about her earlier days at Crowborough," he said, with +considerable embarrassment. "She had been there that morning. She +seemed upset, and I--well, I lost my head for the moment. I hadn't +seen her since the day after my return from Paris. What I told +Carrissima was absolutely true. The moment she entered Bridget's room +I saw what a fool I had been. Of course, we both made the mistake of +imagining Carrissima had seen nothing. But anyhow--whatever she saw, +to think she could jump to such a conclusion!" + +"Not very surprising, after all," said Jimmy quietly. "I fancy that I +should have thought the same. You must admit the situation appeared a +little compromising." + +"You wouldn't say that if you had seen Bridget later on," answered Mark. + +"Look here, old fellow," said Jimmy, "you and I have known each other a +good many years. You remember when we used to fight like billy-oh at +Brighton." + +"I dare say you feel rather as if you would like to punch my head now," +returned Mark. + +"H'm, well--I tell you frankly," said Jimmy. "This jaw we're having +may influence my whole life." + +"It has already influenced mine," cried Mark. + +"How's that?" demanded Jimmy. + +"I have been hoping to marry Carrissima--to put it plainly. You've +shown what she thinks of me." + +"Surely," said Jimmy, "she had more than a little excuse!" + +"My dear chap," replied Mark, "you're not such a prig that you can't +understand the possibility of a man's losing his head about a pretty +woman." + +"Why, no," said Jimmy; "but I wish to goodness you had not chosen that +particular one." + +"If I had imagined Carrissima saw us, I should have explained things at +once," added Mark. + +"The question is," suggested Jimmy, "whether your explanation would +have sounded quite convincing." + +"Good Lord!" said Mark, "you speak as if you were not convinced!" + +"Of one thing--yes," was the answer. "I can understand a fellow's +kissing a pretty woman--or a dozen if it comes to that, but I know +you're not the man to go where you're not certain you're wanted." + +Now Mark hesitated, thinking that he had humiliated himself almost +enough. Seeing, however, that Jimmy was hanging upon his answer, he +felt compelled to belittle himself to the uttermost rather than allow +the slightest obstacle to remain between Bridget and this man who +appointed himself her champion. + +"The truth is," said Mark, "I--well, I made a mistake." + +"About Bridget?" demanded Jimmy eagerly. + +"Yes," answered Mark. "I had no shadow of an excuse. From first to +last she had never given me the remotest reason. It was simply my own +egregious stupidity. To put it honestly, I acted like a bounder. I'm +immensely sorry, Jimmy." + +Jimmy could not help feeling sore about it. For one thing, he +regretted the necessity to admit to Sybil that the false report +contained that one word of truth. Worse than this! an indignity had +been put on Bridget by Mark Driver, who seemed the last man in the +world to inflict it. Jimmy, however, realized that one of her most +potent charms was a delectable, seductive ingenuousness and +irresponsibility, which might, perhaps, on occasion prove a little +misleading to unregenerate man. Nevertheless, he felt sore as he left +Weymouth Street. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +HAVING IT OUT + +"Mr. Driver," announced Knight at half-past three that Monday afternoon. + +Carrissima at once came to the conclusion that she had never seen him +look so solemn--or quite so handsome, although she wished that he had +stayed away. + +"How are you, Mark?" she said, mustering a smile, however, as she held +out her hand. + +"I have come rather early," he answered, and Carrissima noticed that he +barely touched her finger tips. + +"Won't you sit down?" she suggested, returning to her own chair. + +"So that I might make certain of finding you alone," continued Mark, +still standing in the middle of the room. + +"Well, your object is attained," she cried brightly. "Father is not at +home, and I am not expecting any visitors." + +"I thought the best plan," he said, "was to have it out without any +waste of time." + +"Oh dear!" murmured Carrissima. "Have what out?" + +"I am going to speak quite plainly----" + +"Why in the world shouldn't you?" + +"I want to know," said Mark, "why you--of all people--told Sybil +Clynesworth--well, what you did tell her?" + +"What did I?" asked Carrissima. + +"It amounts to this. That I have been acting like a pretty miserable +humbug and scoundrel combined." + +"Mark!" faltered Carrissima, "I didn't. I couldn't have said anything +of the sort." + +"Then Sybil deliberately invented the story!" + +"But what--what story?" said Carrissima. + +"The charming little tale she repeated to Jimmy!" + +"If only you could manage to be a little more explicit," urged +Carrissima, with a suggestion of annoyance in her tone. + +"Oh, I shall speak out plainly enough," said Mark. "Sybil told Jimmy I +had been carrying on a wretched intrigue with Bridget--neither more nor +less. She gave you as her authority." + +"She had no right," exclaimed Carrissima, and for an instant Mark's +face cleared. + +"Do you mean to say that you haven't mentioned my name to Sybil in such +a connection?" he demanded, taking a step nearer. + +"Yes, I mentioned your name," Carrissima admitted. "But I could never +have said that--never! I feel almost certain I couldn't." + +"Good heavens!" cried Mark, "you don't seem to know what you told her +and what you didn't!" + +Strange as it might appear to him, that was precisely the truth. She +scarcely remembered what she had said in her excitement and +disappointment, although she had little doubt it was something far too +much to the point. His wrath was in some degree a relief to +Carrissima, although she could not imagine what plausible excuse he +could intend to offer. Because, after all, she could not disbelieve +the evidence of her own senses. + +"Mark," she said, "I don't think you are treating me in the least +fairly." + +"How is that?" he demanded. + +"Oh well, you come here and take the offensive----" + +"Then you believe I have nothing to do but defend myself?" said Mark. + +"I can only suppose," she retorted, "that you fancy the best method is +to try to carry the war into the enemy's country." + +"My enemy--you! Good Lord!" exclaimed Mark. + +"Of course," she continued, "there doesn't exist the slightest reason +why you should take the trouble to excuse yourself to me. You have +done me no wrong." + +"By Jove! you have done me a cruel one," he said, with evident emotion. + +"I am sorry I said a word to Sybil," answered Carrissima. "But she +happened to be here when I got home from Golfney Place that afternoon. +You know what I saw there----" + +"I wish to goodness you hadn't gone near the house!" said Mark. + +"No doubt you do!" she retorted. "It was no business of mine, only it +seemed so utterly inconsistent with that you distinctly told me!" + +"I told you precisely the truth," he insisted. + +"Oh, what nonsense!" said Carrissima. + +"How could it be! You told me that Bridget was--was nothing to you." + +"She was nothing. She is nothing." + +"If that is really the case," said Carrissima, "why, then your conduct +appears inexplicable." + +"Why didn't you tackle me?" he demanded. "Surely you have known me +long enough!" + +Carrissima realized that the circumstances were against her. She had, +before to-day, come to the conclusion that those first excited +suspicions were entirely unjustifiable; although Mark had no doubt +deceived her, he could not be so bad as she had imagined at the time. +She perceived that she might find one excuse which yet she durst not +mention. If she could admit plainly that the sight of Bridget in his +arms made her madly jealous and for the moment unaccountable for her +words, then, perhaps, Mark might be mollified. At least this defence +would be true. It seemed incongruous that she instead of him should be +considered the offender; but above everything Carrissima must keep back +the only explanation which was likely to sound plausible. + +"It was nothing to me," she said. + +"Anyhow, it was a great deal to me," replied Mark. "Of course I played +the fool that afternoon. I don't want to make excuses. I admit there +are none. But you ought to understand that Bridget was an innocent +victim. No one was to blame but myself, and I not very severely. Yet +because of one act of momentary folly you could tell Sybil that +monstrous story." + +"Well, I am sorry," said Carrissima. "I was carried away by +excitement. I suppose it's a weakness of mine! I sometimes do tell +people things and repent afterwards. I don't pretend to be immaculate." + +"The fact is," returned Mark, "you've always been down on Bridget. The +girl is absolutely straight! What beats me is that you could meet me +as usual, as if nothing had come between us, take my hand and yet +believe all the time I was that sort of outsider." + +"And now," exclaimed Carrissima, "you ask me to believe that not having +seen Bridget for weeks you went to her house and took her in your arms +against her will! But there! what is the use of going over it all +again? I feel immensely angry with Sybil. It is entirely her fault. +She promised faithfully never to say a word." + +"You beg the question in a rather womanly way," said Mark. + +"Well, what would you have?" cried Carrissima, flinging out her arms. +"I am a woman, you know. I dare say I am not always consistent, if +that's what you mean." + +"I thought it best to come and see you," answered Mark, with a shrug. + +"Oh yes, by far the best," said Carrissima, with a shiver. + +With that he went away, and Carrissima sought her room, locking herself +in. She felt exceedingly angry with Sybil, and determined to write to +her before the day ended. As to Mark, it was true she had done him an +injustice, but his conduct appeared as difficult to explain as ever. +Nothing which he had said made it any more comprehensible, and the only +certainty seemed to be that a man could not conceivably love one woman +and kiss another! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A HOT SCENT + +Mr. Joseph Dotting, having driven a hansom for several years, was +compelled by force of circumstances to learn late in life to drive a +taxi-cab or perish. He was not a man who, as a rule, took any +absorbing interest in the events of the day, with the occasional +exception, perhaps, of an exciting murder case; but he was always a +close student of starting prices. + +Having been ordered to wait outside Marshall and Snelgrove's on Tuesday +morning, however, the two ladies whom he had driven from Eccleston +Square kept him so long that he took Monday's 6.30 edition of the +_Evening News_ from beneath his seat. Happening to glance through the +advertisement colums, his attention became presently arrested by the +offer of Five Pounds reward. + +"Dashed if that ain't the party I drove to Blackheath the other +afternoon," he said half aloud. "Leastways, I picked her up in Golfney +Place whether it was Number 5 or not. 'Tain't likely there was two of +'em!" + +Mr. Joseph Botting felt certain that he could recognize the house +again, and when at last the two ladies came forth from the shop, +followed by a boy who was laden with many small parcels, Mr. Botting, +in his haste to set them down at Eccleston Square again, put more than +one life in peril. + +The next thing was to drive to the nearest public-house, where it did +not take many seconds to swallow a pint of six ale. The sandwiches +which a careful wife had wrapped in a piece of newspaper, could wait +until he had made certain of his good fortune. On reaching Golfney +Place, he saw beyond a doubt that the house from which he had driven +the young lady and her luggage was assuredly Number 5, and then Mr. +Joseph Botting lost no time in making his way to Upper Grosvenor +Street, where the advertisement said he was to apply. + +Before he had time to get down from his seat Jimmy, having seen him +through the dining-room window, came out with his napkin in his hand. + +"'Morning, guvnor," said Joseph. "I've come about this 'ere five pound +reward." + +"You have only to tell me where you left the young lady," replied +Jimmy, taking out his pocket-case and temptingly exposing a bank note. + +"Well, you see, guvnor, I can't call to mind the address," said Joseph. + +"It wasn't a railway station!" + +"No," was the answer. "I'll tell you where it was." + +"Where?" demanded Jimmy. + +"Blackheath," said Dotting. "'Cabman,' she says, 'drive to the Marble +Arch.' But when we got there she tells me to go over Westminster +Bridge to Blackheath. As soon as we were at the village, as they calls +it, she gets out and looks round for a second and then she darts across +the road by the cab rank and goes into a sort of registry office. By +an' by," Joseph Botting continued, "she comes out agin and tells me to +drive on to--blest if I can recollect the name o' the place." + +"Could you find your way to the house again?" suggested Jimmy, as +Botting took off his cap and rubbed his crown. + +"Like a shot, guvnor." + +"Jump up, then," said Jimmy. "The moment I hear that the young lady +has been at the house you shall have the fiver and a good tip beyond +your fare." + +"Right you are," cried Botting, and Jimmy, re-entering the hall, spoke +a few words of unsatisfactory explanation to Sybil, while he thrust his +arms into the sleeves of his motor coat. + +When once he was on the way he quickly recovered his customary +self-control. Lighting a cigar, he leaned back in the cab and was soon +on the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge. He was driven along the +dreary length of Walworth Road, to Camberwell Green, through Peckham to +Lewisham. From the Lee High Road Joseph Botting turned along a shady +thoroughfare to the left, presently reaching Blackheath with Greenwich +Park on the farther side, and immediately on the right a row of high, +old-fashioned houses. + +"Here we are, guvnor!" exclaimed Joseph, applying his brake, and Jimmy +was out on the pavement in an instant, across the long front garden, +ringing the bell, knocking at the door. + +"Miss Rosser?" he asked when it was opened by a middle-aged woman. + +"She went out three-quarters of an hour ago," was the answer. + +"At what time do you expect her home?" said Jimmy. + +"She ordered tea for half-past four," replied the woman. + +Jimmy could not wait until half-past four! He looked at his watch and +saw there would be more than an hour! + +"Can you tell me where she has gone?" he inquired. + +"Well, she asked how to find Greenwich Park," said the woman, and as +Jimmy turned away from the door he took out his pocket-book. Standing +on the pavement he handed a five-pound note, together with the fare +from Upper Grosvenor Street and a liberal tip to Joseph Botting, who +grinned with delight, then Jimmy crossed the road and struck across the +heath. A few children were scampering about, some men were playing at +golf on this, the oldest course in England. Entering the park a few +minutes later he followed the broad walk, bordered by Spanish chestnut +trees, keeping the while a brisk lookout and hesitating whether to take +one of the diverging paths to the right or left. + +Surely that must be Bridget! She was scarcely to be mistaken, with her +slender figure, her rather closely fitting skirt, her wide-brimmed hat, +her wealth of chestnut-coloured hair! On Jimmy's left was the +observatory, and two or three people were adjusting their watches by +the large clock in the wall. She stood close to an iron railing, from +which sloped down a grassy hill, and beyond lay Greenwich Hospital and +the Thames; on its farther bank tall chimneys rising from amidst the +docks and houses of the Isle of Dogs. + +With her back still towards him, her eyes upon the wonderful prospect, +she had no suspicion of Jimmy's propinquity until he mentioned her name. + +"Bridget!" he whispered, close behind her, and on the instant she +turned, her face radiant with joy. + +"Oh, I wondered whether you would come!" she cried. + +"What else could I do?" he said. "Now I am here, where can we go to +talk about the most important subject in the world?" + +"Let us," suggested Bridget, "stroll across the grass!" + +They soon reached a secluded spot, and found some chairs near an +ancient, ivy-covered tree-trunk, surrounded by an iron fence. The sun +was shining brightly, and a fawn, which had strayed from the small herd +of fallow deer, left off browsing to gaze. As Jimmy and Bridget sat +down it turned and slowly ambled away. + +"Why did you choose this particular place of all others?" asked Jimmy. + +"Once upon a time," said Bridget, "years and years ago, my aunts used +to live at Blackheath." + +"I should rather like to take you to them at Sandbay," replied Jimmy. +"I have been there. They are the dearest old ladies, and your proper +place seems to be with them--for the present!" + +"Oh, I couldn't," she exclaimed. "Especially after what I imagine you +have told them about me. I really couldn't go," she said. + +"Then you leave me only one alternative," said Jimmy. "I was anxious +to do everything decently and in order, but it appears you won't let +me." + +"You have not asked why I left Golfney Place," suggested Bridget, +leaning forward in her chair and digging the ferrule of her sunshade +into the turf. + +"I fancy I know," said Jimmy. "You lacked courage to face old +Faversham." + +"Oh, how abominably I treated him!" murmured Bridget. + +"There is not the least doubt about it," Jimmy admitted. + +"So very, very badly," she continued gravely, with her eyes on the +grass, "that I wonder you took the trouble to find me." + +"Do you?" he asked, and as she remained silent for a few moments Jimmy +repeated the question. "Do you?" he said. + +"Why, no," she cried, raising her head and facing him with a laugh. +"But it is more than I deserve," she added. "Jimmy, I was in great +straits. I saw how fast my money was going, that I should have none +left in a year or two, and so when Colonel Faversham bothered me to +marry him I gave in. I thought I could do it, you know." + +"Until I came to undeceive you!" suggested Jimmy. + +"Yes," said Bridget; "but I was afraid you might be--be disgusted! I +wanted you to know, and yet I didn't. I tried to tell you time after +time, and still I couldn't say the word which I thought might drive you +away from me. I saw it would be impossible to marry Colonel Faversham, +but if I threw him over what should I do in the future? I hesitated +and hesitated. I went to Crowborough because I hoped the influence of +the place might give me courage; it didn't and I had some wild idea of +appealing to Mark for help. That--that wouldn't do, and Colonel +Faversham insisted I should tell him when I would be his wife--he +talked of our being married within a week or ten days. Oh dear! how +hard I tried to make him understand; but I couldn't succeed, and at +last in desperation a fresh idea occurred to me: I would run away! I +told him to come for his answer the next morning--oh, I know I was +horrid to him!" + +"Well, we agree about that," said Jimmy. "We are going to agree about +everything, you see. I suppose," he added, "you thought you would +appeal to me as a sort of forlorn hope?" + +"Oh, it was scarcely worth calling a hope," she answered. "You had +said so much about truthfulness. You could forgive anything else but +deceit, and of course I had deceived you from the beginning." + +"So that you love me in the end," he said. + +"Ah, Jimmy!" murmured Bridget. "But nobody will ever relieve it. They +will think I threw Colonel Faversham over because you were the richer. +It is only natural they should say that." + +"Let them say what they like," was the answer. "When you told me about +your engagement I could do only one thing. I should have liked to ask +you to come away with me then and there; but I--well, it couldn't be +done, dear. The moment I heard you were free of the colonel, I hadn't +a doubt in the world. Bridget, you will have to make up your mind to +marry me at once." + +She did not attempt to gainsay him, but placed her hand in his, and a +few minutes later they rose from their chairs, walking across the grass +to the gate by which Jimmy had entered the park. Bridget's step was +light, she hung upon his arm as they crossed the heath, the sun shone +upon her and she looked as if she had not a care in the world. + +"I must say 'good-bye' now," said Jimmy, outside the garden gate. "I +shall see you to-morrow afternoon, but Sybil must come in the morning." + +"At last!" cried Bridget, with a smile. + +"Well, I always told you she would come," he answered. "For the rest, +I think your best plan will be to return to Golfney Place--it won't be +for many days, you know. Suppose I see Miller this evening and Sybil +can bring the motor-car to drive you back." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +OPEN CONFESSION + +Sybil Clynesworth made an unconditional surrender. It was true that, +never having seen Bridget, she failed to understand Jimmy's facile +satisfaction. She certainly still considered that he was ridiculously +credulous. But while she would have been prepared to go to great +lengths in order to prevent her brother from entering into what she +could not help regarding as an unsuitable marriage, she saw that he had +made up his mind. + +The idea of living on unfriendly terms with him or his wife appeared +preposterous, whereas a single false step at this critical period might +easily make Bridget her enemy for life. So Sybil expressed her +willingness to fall in with Jimmy's wishes; she would go to Blackheath +in the motor-car early the following morning, inconvenient as the +expedition would be; and she would bring Miss Rosser back to Golfney +Place. + +When the time came, however, Sybil set out with considerable +nervousness, and her legs threatened to give way beneath her as she got +out of the motor-car at the garden gate. The first sight of Bridget at +least put an end to any surprise at Jimmy's infatuation, and when she +came forward with both hands held out, kissing her visitor's cheek +without the slightest hesitation, the way was half won to Sybil's +accessible heart. + +"You see, you are Jimmy's sister," said Bridget, with a charming air of +entreaty, and in spite of her former equivocal opinion of Miss Rosser, +Sybil could not refrain from answering-- + +"My dear, you must let me be yours." + +Bridget, it appeared, was to return to lunch in Upper Grosvenor Street, +and Jimmy, having already spoken to Miller, would escort her to No. 5, +Golfney Place during the afternoon. It was while he was absent on this +errand that Sybil sat down to write to Carrissima, sending the note to +Grandison Square by hand. Since the reproachful letter which Sybil had +received on the morning after the interview with Mark Driver, it seemed +too soon to carry the epoch-marking news in person. So she explained +that Jimmy was engaged to be married, and admitted her own more +favourable impression of her prospective sister-in-law; she told +Carrissima that Bridget had returned to Golfney Place, and added that +the wedding was to take place at once. + +"Well," demanded Colonel Faversham, who happened to be sitting with +Carrissima when Knight brought in the letter, "who's it from?" + +"Sybil Clynesworth," she answered, with her eyes on the notepaper. + +"What has she got to say?" exclaimed the colonel, fidgeting in his +chair. "Why do you hesitate?" he added. + +"Jimmy is going to be married," said Carrissima. + +"H'm! Going to marry Bridget?" + +"From what Sybil says, in a very few days," was the answer. + +Colonel Faversham said nothing more at the moment. He had been doing +his utmost to make a virtue of necessity. The grapes were sour. He +ought to be thankful for a lucky escape! He wished Jimmy joy of his +bargain! Nevertheless, he looked dejected as he sat in his easy-chair, +and Carrissima could not help feeling sorry for him in one way, +although she was profoundly thankful that he had been saved, in spite +of himself, from a marriage which could scarcely have failed to turn +out miserably. + +"I suppose," said Carrissima, "I ought to send some sort of wedding +present?" + +"Send a wedding present! Of course! Why not?" answered Colonel +Faversham, eager above all things to keep her for ever ignorant of his +own engagement. "Better go to Donaldson's," he added. + +"There's not much time to lose," suggested Carrissima. "I think I will +go to-morrow morning." + +"Upon my word," said her father, "I should rather like to get away for +a bit." + +"Oh, so should I!" was the answer. + +"You wouldn't care to cut into the season!" + +"I really shouldn't mind a scrap," said Carrissima. + +She was inclined to feel that she did not much care about anything, and +the news of Bridget's betrothal seemed to intensify her own +disappointment. + +"Would next week be too soon?" asked Colonel Faversham, and she +promised to be ready by its end. He began at once to interest himself +in the trip; they were to go abroad, and having fetched some old +volumes of Baedeker from the smoking-room, he grew more cheerful than +Carrissima had seen him for some days. + +The next morning she spent an hour and a half at Donaldson's, +inspecting various gold and silver articles, but at last selecting +nothing more original than a large rose-bowl. On her way home, close +to Golfney Place, she met Mark, and wondered whether she should stop if +he showed no sign of doing so. She had never passed him by before, and +in spite of a lingering sense of injustice, and even indignation, she +had not the heart to let him go on without a word. She felt confident, +however, that he would not have spoken if she had not taken the matter +out of his hands. + +"Have you heard the latest news?" asked Carrissima, as he raised his +hat. + +"About Jimmy and Bridget--yes, I was immensely glad to have a visit +from him late last night." + +"I have just been choosing a wedding present at Donaldson's," said +Carrissima. + +"Oh yes," replied Mark, so distantly that she looked up suddenly to his +face. + +"How is your patient?" she inquired. + +"Sir Wilford?" said Mark. "I have just come from Burnham Crescent. +Randolph Messeter operated. I hope we shall pull him through." + +"Father and I are going abroad," Carrissima explained. "I dare say we +shall be away quite a month." + +"I hope you will have a good time," said Mark, and then raising his hat +again, he walked on. + +Carrissima bit her lower lip and kept her eyes on the pavement. She +had done all she could, and there was an end of it! Perhaps the lapse +of time would make him more reasonable, because it really was +ridiculous to behave as if she were the original sinner. Not that she +imagined that anything in the world would ever facilitate the happiness +to which she had formerly tried to look forward. + +The same evening brought a surprise in the form of a letter from +Bridget. She wished to see Carrissima very particularly indeed. As it +was not very convenient to come to Grandison Square, would Carrissima +mind going to Golfney Place at half-past eleven the following morning? + +Carrissima certainly could understand the "inconvenience" of a visit to +Colonel Faversham's house, but she scarcely hesitated about going to +see Bridget at her lodgings. Personally, she had not the least +antipathy to the marriage, and, moreover, it seemed inevitable that she +should see something of Jimmy's wife in the future. Consequently there +was nothing to be gained by holding aloof in the present. + +She was at once impressed by the subtle change in Miss Rosser's +demeanour. It almost seemed as if she had increased in stature during +the last few days; certainly she held her head higher in the air. +There was an obvious accession of dignity, and she greeted her visitor +rather condescendingly--quite charmingly, nevertheless. + +"Thank you so very, very much for that lovely rose-bowl," she +exclaimed. "So clever of you to know just what we wanted. Jimmy was +here when it came yesterday evening, and he admired it immensely. +Besides, it was our first wedding present!" + +"Now I must add my congratulations," said Carrissima. + +"Carrissima!" answered Bridget, "it's all beautiful. Do you like my +ring?" she continued, holding out her left hand. "Jimmy wanted to see +you, but I insisted upon having you all to myself. Do, please, sit +down!" + +Carrissima took a chair, and her thoughts flew back to that last +dreadful visit when she had sat nearly in the same position, striving +to lead Mark to believe that she had not seen him with Bridget in his +arms. + +"You must have been immensely surprised to get my letter," said +Bridget. "I had a long discussion with Jimmy before I sent it. Of +course it would not have been written but for what he told me, only I +should love to try and make you happy too, though you may hate me for +it. I don't want you to hate me," Bridget added, "because I could grow +very fond of you if you would let me. Mean to blame one's +circumstances, isn't it? Still, you know, if my father and mother had +lived I have no shadow of doubt I should have gone along quite +decently, and you would have thought I was a very estimable person. +But I really want to talk about Mark!" + +"What about him?" asked Carrissima, at once on her guard. + +"The fact is," Bridget explained, "I ought to have drawn in and lived +on my hundred pounds a year, or whatever it was, only I hadn't got it +in me. I formed a different plan. I thought I would take London by +storm--no less! I had been flattered and spoiled in Paris, and +goodness knows what ridiculous ideas I came away with. Well, I was +left alone with no one to speak to till I recognized Mark at the Old +Masters', and dropped my purse so that he might pick it up and give me +an excuse to claim acquaintance. They say that open confession is good +for the soul! Oh dear, mine ought to be in such splendid condition." + +"Why should you inflict the penance on yourself to-day?" suggested +Carrissima. + +"I liked Mark Driver," said Bridget, "and I thought he liked me--in a +rather different way. Until he went to Yorkshire, I believed he would +ask me to marry him. I had tried to make him! After his return, that +evening he took me to Belloni's, I tried my hardest and wondered why I +failed till I saw you." + +"I don't see what I can possibly have to do with it," murmured +Carrissima. + +"Oh, you were very discreet--very clever! But it wasn't long before I +saw you would give your heart for Mark----" + +"You have not the least right to say that!" exclaimed Carrissima. + +"Of course I haven't," Bridget admitted. "I am taking the most +abominable liberty. Well, I was going to tell you that when Colonel +Faversham asked me to marry him, I temporized until Mark's return from +Paris; then I knew for certain there was nothing to be hoped for from +him. I am giving myself away pretty liberally," said Bridget, "but +this is what I want to make you understand. Though I deliberately +devoted myself to captivate Mark, he never yielded--till just that +once! Odd, that I who feel absolutely indifferent about him, should +read his character so much more correctly than you who love him. Oh, +please," entreated Bridget, "don't look so fierce, because if I had not +been certain, there would have been no object in asking you to come +here this morning." + +"I cannot see one in--in any case!" said Carrissima. + +"Oh, I hope there is," answered Bridget. "I know it sounds a wee bit +inconsistent, because, of course, Mark was wrong, and at the time I +felt immensely angry with him. But he wasn't a thousandth part so +wrong as you imagined, and, Carrissima! there are very few men of his +age whom you or I couldn't tempt if we gave our minds to it." + +"I am not in the least likely to make the experiment," exclaimed +Carrissima. + +"No, but, you see, I did! It's true nothing could have been further +from my thoughts or my wishes on the afternoon you dropped the roses. +But how was Mark to know that? And at other times I had done my very +best to lead him on, and I failed only because of you! Imagine what it +meant when he heard from Jimmy that the woman he loved, whom he had +intended to ask to be his wife----" + +"That is your own imagination!" cried Carrissima. "You cannot possibly +have any ground for believing such a thing!" + +"Anyhow, I have his own assurance; besides, he told Jimmy, if my word +is not enough. You told Sybil that Mark had lied to you, and acted +goodness knows how horridly concerning me, and the truth was he had +merely lost his head for a single instant, and what was it after all? +Carrissima, I have taken myself to pieces just to convince you I am +sincere for once in a way! I see the possibility of danger ahead . . . +danger that Mark is too much hurt to come forward again, and what a +pity! Take my advice and don't let things rest. What does it matter +who eats humble pie if you're going to dine together for the remainder +of your lives? Do something at once! Write to him--send for him as I +sent for you. I hoped I might make you believe he loves you, and that +then you might live happily ever after!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +LAWRENCE SUMS IT UP + +The ensuing few hours proved the most restless of Carrissima's life. +At luncheon she could scarcely concentrate her thoughts sufficiently to +listen to the explanation of Colonel Faversham's plans for the +forthcoming tour abroad, and afterwards she retired to her own room, +where she made a valiant attempt to persuade herself that as the +mountain would not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain. + +It required, however, considerable courage to follow Bridget's advice +and send Mark a letter, and when at last she succeeded in silencing her +doubts, she scarcely knew what to say to him. Hitherto, in all her +dealings with Mark, she had felt uncertain (to say the least) about his +regard. Now, if Bridget were to be credited, there remained no room +for disbelief. Mark loved her! In spite of that compromising +situation which she had witnessed, he loved her. + +If this were the case, nothing else seemed to be of any importance. +Carrissima was prepared to condone an offence, the importance of which, +she supposed, she had exaggerated; and perhaps if she were to make +herself more abject, he would grasp the olive branch. As Bridget +suggested, what did it matter so that they came together at last? +Granting his love, as there could be no doubt about her own, it would +be sheer foolishness to allow the present unfortunate estrangement to +continue. + +So she took a pen presently, and after profound consideration succeeded +in writing the few necessary words-- + +"MY DEAR MARK, + +"Will you be magnanimous and spare me a few minutes after dinner this +evening? + +"Yours very sincerely, + +"CARRISSIMA." + + +The mountain in labour having brought forth a mouse, Carrissima put on +her hat and set out, intending personally to post the letter. There +would be ample time. He would receive it before seven o'clock, and, it +was to be hoped, reach Grandison Square soon after nine. She +determined to be on the watch for his arrival, in order to take him to +some unoccupied room. Well, what then? she wondered, as she drew near +the pillar-box. What could she do but repeat the assurance already +given that she had never really believed what she told Sybil +Clynesworth--or at the worst only for a few seconds. + +Bridget, presumably, expected her to employ some feminine wiles to +bring Mark to a more amenable condition, but there Carrissima drew the +line. Within reach of the pillar-box, she took the letter in both +hands, tore it into a dozen pieces and scattered them to the winds. + +She would not, after all, make any definite appointment. If Mark loved +her he was not likely to change, and everything must eventually come +right; if he did not, why, in that case she could not do aught to +improve the existing condition of things, even if she would. Time +might, unassisted, enable him to judge her more leniently. If she did +not meet him before she left England, he could scarcely fail, sooner or +later, to cross her path after her return. In the meantime, rather +miserably, she began her preparations; and, as it happened, she was to +depart two days after Bridget's marriage. + +Although this had been arranged to take place very quietly at the +church which Sybil so regularly attended, a good many of Jimmy's +friends seemed to hear of the affair. Small as the wedding-party was +(although it included the Misses Dobson), a large congregation gathered +together. Mark was present, at the rear of the church; but although +Carrissima hesitated, she conquered her curiosity and stayed away. + +Going to Charteris Street the same afternoon, she found Lawrence in a +mood to moralize. + +"Well," he remarked, "they are a lively pair, Jimmy and this wife of +his!" + +"Yes, they will at least be that," returned Carrissima. "After all, I +suppose it's something to the good, and they're certain to get along +splendidly together." + +"They will flourish like the green bay tree," exclaimed Lawrence. + +"Oh, don't be a Pharisee!" said Carrissima. + +"I am a man of common-sense," he protested. "We all know Jimmy! The +only astonishing thing is that he was not too experienced a bird to be +so easily caught." + +"Perhaps he was willing to meet his fate," suggested Phoebe. + +"Not a doubt about it," said her husband. "So complete was his +beguilement." + +"You entirely ignore the possibility that Bridget may be sincerely fond +of him," said Carrissima. + +"Just as she was fond first of Mark, then of father," retorted +Lawrence. "You must admit that she angled for each in turn, and that +she finally chose the richest." + +"Oh dear, yes," said Carrissima. "What is more, she would make the +same admission herself." + +"A little barefaced," remarked Phoebe. + +"Anyhow," Carrissima insisted, "I believe that Bridget simply fell in +love with Jimmy, and that was why she altered her course." + +"Rotten sentimentality!" exclaimed Lawrence. "The curse of the age. +Oh, there's no doubt she was clever. She played her cards so well that +she succeeded in deceiving the principal looker-on as well as her +victim." + +"Victim or not," said Carrissima, "I positively can't feel sorry for +Jimmy." + +"Neither can I," cried Lawrence. "I always find it difficult to pity a +fool. Anyhow, I hope you have done with her," he added. + +"Lawrence would not let me send Jimmy a present," said Phoebe. + +"Certainly not," was the answer. "The whole mischief," he continued, +facing his sister, "was brought about by the first visit you paid to +Golfney Place." + +"Oh well," said Carrissima, "there will scarcely be a question of my +patronizing her in the future. You see, Mrs. Clynesworth will be a +quite important personage." + +"We have every reason to be thankful she isn't Mrs. Faversham," +returned Lawrence. "For the rest, it's just the way of the world." + +So he dismissed the topic, and a few minutes later Phoebe inquired +whether Carrissima had seen anything of Mark during the last few days. + +"He really looks ill," she insisted. "He was here yesterday, and I +thought he had come to make an appointment to see the new carpet. He +spoke about it the last time, but when I suggested we should go before +you left England, he said he was afraid he should be too busy. I fancy +he is bothered about Sir Wilford Scones." + +Carrissima did not see him again before her departure, and she was +absent with Colonel Faversham six weeks. As Lawrence had taken a +cottage in the country for the benefit of Victor, Carrissima, on her +return to Grandison Square, stood no chance of meeting Mark in +Charteris Street. As a matter of fact, he did not cross her path again +until after she came back from her usual round of country-house visits +at the end of October, with the intention of settling down for what +promised to prove a dreary winter. + +Her former avocations had lost their zest; life seemed to have become +flat, stale and unprofitable. She longed for some kind of change, +although she knew not what. At Charteris Street, whither Phoebe had by +this time returned, the only news of Mark was that he had spent six +weeks mountain-climbing in Switzerland. Lawrence complained of his +brother-in-law's neglect. + +"Phoebe is his only sister," he said one afternoon, during the first +week of November. "The least he might do is to come and see her now +and then. I say nothing about myself." + +"I have only seen Mark once for five minutes since he came back," added +Phoebe. + +"When was that?" asked Carrissima. + +"Last week----" + +"And," suggested Lawrence, "I don't imagine he would have taken the +trouble then if he hadn't wanted you to do something for him." + +"You see, Carrissima," Phoebe explained, "Dr. Bunbury's wife and +daughter are coming on a visit to London for a few weeks. Mark has +promised to play cicerone, and he is anxious I shall call and invite +the Bunburys here. Of course I told him I should be quite pleased. By +the bye," Phoebe added, "I met Sybil Clynesworth the other day. She +said that Jimmy and his wife would soon be home." + +"They are still living together," said Lawrence. + +They had not returned to England since their wedding, and it seemed +that Bridget had passed entirely out of Carrissima's life, after +occupying a considerable space in it for many weeks. Whatever the +future might prove concerning her influence over Jimmy, it certainly +appeared that she had brought nothing but mischief upon the household +in Grandison Square. + +Colonel Faversham had never been quite the same man since that morning +he went to Number 5, Golfney Place, and found that Bridget had +departed. Signs of age had become suddenly visible; he devoted his +life less to golf, and spent far more time at home--not an unmitigated +advantage to his daughter. + +As for Carrissima, she did her best to take a calm survey of the +situation, but without being able to understand why Mark continued to +sulk in his tent. If he really loved her, surely he would before now +have admitted his own fault and made allowances for the momentary +indiscretion which was provoked by Carrissima's knowledge of it. + +As a matter of fact, Mark felt as deeply vexed with himself as with +her. But for his own lamentable weakness, he might have proved more +tolerant of Carrissima's shortcoming; the circumstance that his own +withers were wrung, made a _rapprochement_ less likely. There were +moments when he wished that he had taken a different line from the +beginning; but having already held aloof from Grandison Square so long, +it became increasingly difficult to venture near the house. + +Carrissima, who had not seen his face for several months, met him with +Mrs. Bunbury and her daughter in Regent Street, and promptly came to +the conclusion that his younger companion might prove quite dangerously +attractive. At least, she presented a striking contrast to Bridget, +being very quietly dressed, with dark hair, large "saucer" eyes, and a +general appearance of demureness. + +Phoebe had, as Carrissima knew, formed an exceedingly favourable +opinion of Mary Bunbury, who had dined with her mother and Mark in +Charteris Street. Carrissima wondered that she had not been invited to +meet them, and realized that a year ago she would have been the first +person to whom Mark appealed to help in their entertainment. Instead +of taking advantage of the present encounter in Regent Street to +introduce her, he passed on with a bow. His face did not wear a smile +and Carrissima was left with the impression that she remained +unforgiven. To tell the truth, his behaviour aroused rebellious +feelings in her breast; because, after all, she was not the only or the +original sinner. + +So that each was going a separate way, Mark's (by no means +disagreeable) leading him on innumerable expeditions with Mary Bunbury, +when the god stepped out of the machine. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +'MRS. JIMMY' + +Colonel Faversham set out one morning in November after prolonged +hesitation. A year ago he would not have thought twice, but of late he +had grown much more careful of himself. The day was misty and the air +struck raw and cold. He made no protest when Carrissima suggested that +he should wear a scarf, although after she had wound it around his neck +he, somewhat irritably, rearranged it in order to expose his necktie. + +"Bless me!" he exclaimed, with something of his former energy, "you +seem to want to make me look like an infernal invalid. Thank goodness +I haven't got to that yet by a long shot. Molly-coddling a man in this +way!" + +"I don't see much use in wearing a scarf if you tuck it down beneath +your coat," said Carrissima. + +"Who wants to wear one?" he demanded, pulling it off and flinging it on +to the hall table. "I won't wear it. I won't be bothered and +interfered with!" + +He selected a walking-stick from the stand, but when Carrissima opened +the door for him, returned to exchange it for an umbrella; at last, +setting forth at a quarter to twelve, walking rather slowly in the +direction of his club. As he made his way along Piccadilly Colonel +Faversham came almost to a standstill. Good heavens! that must be +Bridget coming towards him. He fixed his eye-glass and saw that he had +not make a mistake; in fact, it was difficult to be mistaken. She was +as becomingly dressed as ever, and carried an enormous muff, with a +great many of some small animals' tails depending from it. + +Colonel Faversham's thoughts at once flew back to that last time he had +seen her in Golfney Place, when he had insisted that she should name +the date for their marriage--a week or two hence, as he had egregiously +hoped! And she had seemed to promise that she would gratify him when +he came the following morning, and he arrived with exuberant +anticipations only to find the bird flown! Everything stood out +clearly in his mind, and now that she was within a few yards he wished +he had not passed Half Moon Street, so that he might have slipped down +the turning in order to avoid a meeting. + +Had he done so in all probability Bridget would have pursued him! +Quickening her pace she bore down upon the colonel with her right hand +outstretched, while with the left she held the enormous muff. He had +no alternative; it seemed inevitable that he should meet her half-way. +Although he had always admired her, she had never appeared quite so +enticing as this dull November morning; looking into his face with +merry eyes, while yet the corners of her mouth were drawn down as if to +express the penitence, which he knew that no one in the world could +have been farther from feeling. + +"Oh, Colonel Faversham, how delighted I am to see you again!" she +cried, and the provoking part of it was that he could not avoid a +sensation of pleasure on seeing her at closer quarters. He did not +imagine for an instant that she wished to see him, although for the +time her manner might carry conviction. "I have positively been +longing to meet you," said Bridget. + +"It is very kind to say so," muttered Colonel Faversham. + +"And," she continued, with her eyes on his face, "how splendidly well +you are looking!" + +"Ah, you think I am?" he answered. "Well, thank Heaven, I feel pretty +well. How long have you been in London?" he asked rather hastily, +because no one could feel more anxious to omit any allusion to the +painful past. + +"Only a couple of days," said Bridget. "We had the loveliest time +abroad, and the best of it was that I really knew my way about far +better than Jimmy." + +Well, Colonel Faversham, for his part, did not doubt that she knew her +way about better than most people. + +"Now, tell the truth!" she exclaimed, as they stood in the middle of +the pavement, "don't you think you ought to feel immensely grateful to +me?" + +"Bless my soul, I had not thought of that!" he answered, with a laugh. + +"Well, you can recognize the fact now it's pointed out to you. Admit +you had a happy release, as they sometimes say in different +circumstances." + +"Now I have seen you again," said Colonel Faversham gallantly, "it +becomes much more difficult than ever to believe anything of the sort." + +"I hope," replied Bridget, "you mean to come and see me often. Jimmy +will be delighted. We have taken the duckiest little furnished flat +while we look about for a house of our own." + +"You are not going to settle down in Upper Grosvenor Street?" suggested +the colonel. + +"Oh dear, no! We should never dream of disturbing Sybil, nor of living +with her. You don't know what a good fellow Jimmy is! Now he has a +wife to keep him up to the mark he will do the most wonderful and +unexpected things. You will see! He is going to stand for +Atlinghurst, and I assure you I intend to get him in. Don't you think +I shall make an excellent canvasser? Now, please, understand," she +added, "I expect you to come and see me!" + +"Where is the flat?" he inquired. + +"Aberdeen Mansion," she answered. "Jimmy took it while we were +abroad----" + +"Without seeing it? Good gracious!" said Colonel Faversham. That was +just like Jimmy--and Bridget. + +"Oh dear, yes," she said. "We left it to an agent, and, really, +nothing could have turned out better. It is only a few yards from Hyde +Park Corner. Will you come and have lunch this morning? I know Jimmy +will be at home--not that it matters if he isn't." + +"Some other time, if you will allow me," said Colonel Faversham, +offering his right hand. + +"I wish," cried Bridget, as she stood holding it, "you would promise me +one thing!" + +"Upon my word," he replied, "it's difficult to refuse to promise you +anything." + +"Well, then, please make Carrissima pay me a visit at once--at once, +you understand?" + +As Colonel Faversham walked on to his club, hastening because he had +grown cold standing still so long, he doubted whether or not he should +mention Mrs. Jimmy's name at Grandison Square. He never ceased to +congratulate himself, inasmuch as the fact of his abortive engagement +had been kept secret. Even if Carrissima suspected anything of the +kind, she could not possibly know for certain! Colonel Faversham +realized, however, that his relationship to Bridget in former days +might still be raked up as food for scoffers, and he shrank from +anything of the nature of ridicule. Mrs. Jimmy, indeed, was a delicate +topic, and he would probably have kept his own counsel concerning the +meeting in Piccadilly, if he had not feared lest she should +subsequently come into contact with Carrissima, when his silence might +defeat his own end. + +"Whom do you think I saw this morning?" he asked, after dinner that +evening. + +"Not--not Bridget?" she exclaimed. + +"Yes--Mrs. Jimmy! They have been in London only a couple of days." + +"Then you spoke to her?" + +"Good gracious!" answered the colonel, "why on earth shouldn't I speak +to her. As a matter of fact there was no getting out of it. She +insisted on speaking to me. She is living in a furnished +flat--Aberdeen Mansion, close to Hyde Park Corner, you know, and she +made me promise that you should pay her a visit as soon as possible. I +don't know whether you will care to go." + +"Oh yes," said Carrissima, "I am bound to call sooner or later." + +"Well, well, you know best," was the answer. "She thought I was +looking uncommonly well--at least she said so. Goodness knows whether +she meant it. Anyhow, I feel pretty fit!" + +Although anything resembling an intimacy with Bridget might be out of +the question, it seemed absolutely necessary to pay Jimmy's wife an +ordinary, complimentary visit. Deep down in Carrissima's mind, +perhaps, was an idea that Bridget might prove capable of an +intervention as auspicious as her previous alarums and excursions had +been unfortunate. + +If this were the case, Carrissima scarcely admitted the impeachment +even to herself; but two afternoons after the meeting with Colonel +Faversham near Half Moon Street his daughter set out to Aberdeen +Mansion, where she found Mrs. Clynesworth at home, and at once came to +the conclusion that until the present, at least, she believed +everything had turned out for the best in the best of all possible +worlds. + +She at once broke through Carrissima's reserve. Paying no attention to +her proffered hand, she leaned forward and demonstratively kissed her +first on the right cheek, then on the left. + +"So glad you have come," she cried effusively. "And how extremely +fortunate that Jimmy is out." + +"Is he all right?" asked Carrissima. + +"Oh yes, quite all right," was the answer. "You will say he looks +splendid, though I don't take any credit to myself for that, because he +always did. I thought so the very first time I saw his photograph at +your house. I haven't the remotest notion where he has gone and I +never inquire. That's my theory of matrimony. Perhaps you are +surprised to hear I have a theory of any kind; but no," said Bridget, +"of course you're more likely to go to the opposite extreme. You can't +help regarding me as a horrid sort of schemer!" + +"All's well that ends well," returned Carrissima, with a smile. + +"Ah! but, you see, it isn't the end!" said Bridget. "It's only the +beginning. We're not living in one of those novels where marriage is +the end of all things. But Jimmy and I always go our separate ways and +the consequence is when we meet we're generally quite glad to see each +other. Such an immense mistake to imagine that any two people can tell +one another everything." + +"Is it?" murmured Carrissima, who clung to a vastly different ideal. + +"What bores we should become!" said Bridget. "And, you know, whatever +you do to a man you must never bore him--poor fellow! But, please, +don't encourage me to talk about myself--not that I really need much +encouragement. I feel so perfectly delighted with everything!--how is +Mark?" she added, abruptly changing her tone. + +"He looked very well the last time I saw him," replied Carrissima, at +once on guard. + +"When was that?" + +"A few days ago!" + +"You don't appear to have any interesting announcement to make," +suggested Bridget, with expressive eyes on Carrissima's face. Now, +Carrissima hesitated. She could easily have answered in such a way +that her hostess, with all her audacity, would have been silenced. + +"I haven't spoken to Mark," she faltered, "since your marriage." + +"How disappointing!" cried Bridget. "So, after all my efforts you +didn't follow the advice I gave you." + +"No," said Carrissima. + +"Why not?" + +"Oh well, I couldn't," said Carrissima, and Bridget shrugged her +shoulders as if to put the topic aside. + +"Did the colonel tell you," she inquired, "that Jimmy is going to stand +for Atlinghurst? Between us we are going to accomplish the most +wonderful things. He always insists that his mind is too independent +for the House of Commons, but I tell him a man must expect to sacrifice +some of his independence when he marries." + +"In spite of all your theories!" suggested Carrissima. + +"Of course," Bridget continued, "I quite understand that most people +believe Jimmy sacrificed a great deal more than that! Your brother +Lawrence, for instance! Oh dear, I can imagine exactly what he says! +Carrissima, there's one thing which makes me angry!" + +"Only one?" said Carrissima. + +"The want of discrimination in the human mind. I dare say that even +yours is tainted! It's of no use to pretend you can't understand. In +a moment of self-denying effusiveness I admitted that I deliberately +angled for a husband: first for Mark Driver, then for Colonel +Faversham. Well, although one would have none of me and I didn't want +the other, the fact remains that I am the wife of the richest of the +trio! Everybody who knows Jimmy naturally thinks that was all I +thought about--his money, his position and so forth. Well, there's +only one consolation," said Bridget. + +"What is that?" demanded Carrissima. + +"Jimmy knows better. I can't tell you how, but there's the glorious +fact that he does. All the evidence was against me! I suppose Jimmy +is a kind of seer--oh, of course you can't help smiling at that! But, +then, neither you nor any one else has the slightest idea what there is +in Jimmy. Carrissima, my husband is a clever man who has the +misfortune--if it is really a misfortune--to see both sides of every +question too distinctly! Being a poor partisan, he appears to lack +enthusiasm. But, then, I have a boundless store!" + +"I begin to think," said Carrissima, "that none of us imagined all +there was in _you_!" + +"Oh, as for me," returned Bridget, "I was simply a little wretch during +the few months you saw anything of me. I honestly believe that was a +kind of interregnum. If you had met me while my father was alive you +would have taken me for a quite different woman. All that is over and +done with and for the rest--well, you will see!" + +When Carrissima rose to go away Bridget clung to her hand-- + +"Jimmy will be immensely disappointed," she exclaimed. "I wish you +would do something to console him by dining with us one evening. Our +space here isn't sufficient for large parties." + +"I should be very pleased," said Carrissima. + +"Let me see," returned Bridget, knitting her brows, "we were reckless +enough to promise to go to Sandbay from Friday till Monday--my dear +little Dresden china aunts, you remember! It is really very amusing! +Jimmy paid them a visit just after I left Golfney Place and they have +taken quite a fancy to him. The odd part of it is, that he seems to +like them in return. Goodness knows how he will endure three days in a +house where tobacco has always been tabooed. Would next Friday suit +you?" + +"Quite nicely," said Carrissima. + +"Oh, but Friday is an unlucky day, isn't it?" cried Bridget. "I don't +know whether you are superstitious, although I believe everyone is +about something. Suppose we say Thursday, and if I can't get together +the people I should like to meet you I must write and fix another +evening. If you don't hear to the contrary I shall expect you on +Thursday--at eight o'clock. Or," Bridget added, "perhaps half-past +seven will be more convenient. Yes, please let it be half-past seven." + +Carrissima walked back to Grandison Square thinking of the change which +had occurred in Bridget, who yet remained in many ways the same as she +had ever been and most likely always would be. But she had no longer +anything to disguise, anything to scheme for. Her manner was +characterized by a new and delightful air of authority, and, indeed, +Carrissima, if anybody, had become the plotter now! As far as Mrs. +Jimmy was concerned the slate had been cleaned. No, in spite of +anything that Lawrence might say, in spite of all that Bridget had +done, Carrissima could not believe that Jimmy Clynesworth was to be +very deeply pitied. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +EXEUNT OMNES + +Carrissima, in her curiosity to know the identity of the "people" whom +Bridget wished her to meet, paid a visit to Upper Grosvenor Street. +Sybil Clynesworth's breach of trust had been long ago forgiven, and now +she was asked, in the most casual tone, whether she was to make one of +the party at Aberdeen Mansion on Thursday. + +"My dear," said Sybil, "Bridget quite understands that I do not care +for that sort of thing. I must say she is kindness itself, and she +wouldn't hear of my turning out of this house; she wouldn't hear of it. +And really Jimmy seems exceedingly happy." + +When Thursday evening arrived, Carrissima proved once more very +exacting while she was being dressed for dinner. Her hair had to be +twice taken down again, and at the last minute she changed her mind +about her gown. Her maid had not found her so troublesome since that +evening in March when she went to dine with Lawrence and Phoebe in +Charteris Street, and on that disappointing occasion Carrissima +expected to meet Mark Driver. + +She could not feel quite so confident of his presence at Aberdeen +Mansion this evening, and in any case such an encounter might not +necessarily tend to mitigate the unfortunate coolness which had grown +up between them. Still it would be a satisfaction to sit in the same +room with him; perhaps he would even take her in to dinner, and +to-night might prove the beginning of better days. Those through which +Carrissima was living at present could scarcely be much worse! + +Even Colonel Faversham remarked how well she was looking when she said +"good-bye." + +"I hope you won't feel very dull by yourself," she suggested. + +"Dull!" he retorted. "Why in the world should I feel dull! You speak +as if I couldn't tolerate my own society for a few hours. Give me a +decent cigar and the _Field_, and I ask for nothing more. Besides, +what do you imagine will become of me when you're married?" + +"Oh well," said Carrissima, "there's no need to anticipate anything of +that kind just yet." + +"No," was the answer. "So it seems. What has happened to Mark Driver? +He used to haunt the house, but now we never see him. I tell you what, +Carrissima. A good many of you young women are just a little bit too +exacting!" + +"If I don't go I shall be late for dinner," exclaimed Carrissima +hastily, and a few minutes later she was on the way to Aberdeen Mansion +in a hired brougham. + +Reaching the block of flats two minutes before the clock struck +half-past seven, Carrissima went up to the second floor in the lift, +pressed the bell button and was at once admitted by Jimmy's man. A +tall parlour-maid met her in the hall, and took her to a bedroom, where +Carrissima removed her cloak. + +"Will you come this way?" said the parlour-maid, and led her to a +miniature drawing-room which, to Carrissima's astonishment, was empty. +"I am very sorry," the girl continued, in response to an inquiring +glance, "but Mr. and Mrs. Clynesworth have not come in yet." + +"Can I have made a mistake in the day?" said Carrissima. "Are you +certain Mrs. Clynesworth expected me this evening?" + +"Yes," was the answer, given with some hesitation. + +"At what time?" + +"Dinner is ordered for eight o'clock," said the parlour-maid. + +"Oh, then that accounts for it," cried Carrissima. "I understood it +was to be half-past seven." + +"We always dine at eight," returned the parlour-maid, as she stirred +the fire. "If you wouldn't mind taking a chair," she added, "Mr. and +Mrs. Clynesworth will not be many minutes." + +With that she left the room and shut the door, only to re-open it again +a few moments later, whereupon Mark Driver entered without any +announcement. To judge by appearances, he was far more astonished to +behold Carrissima than she to see him. For a second he stood stock +still just within the door, gazing down at her face in silence. It was +she who at last broke through the embarrassment, rising and offering +her hand. + +"Good-evening, Mark!" she said. + +"Good-evening," he replied, and then the conversation threatened to +languish. + +"What," asked Carrissima, "do you imagine has become of our host and +hostess?" + +"Goodness knows," said Mark. "There's obviously some mistake. Anyhow, +I was immensely surprised to see their other guest." + +"Really!" cried Carrissima, sitting down again in an easy-chair. "I +don't quite see why!" + +"The fact remains that I was," he answered, with the faintest of smiles. + +"Were you also pleased, by any chance?" + +"Suppose we say I was--well, dazzled," said Mark, drawing closer to her +chair. + +"The simple explanation must be," returned Carrissima, with a tremor in +her voice, "that Bridget said eight, and we understood half-past seven." + +"In that event we must have been dreaming!" + +"But then," she suggested, "it isn't likely that two persons would +dream the same thing, is it?" + +"Oh well, I'm not certain," said Mark, and he rested a hand on the arm +of her chair. + +"You see, Bridget invited me when I was here last week," Carrissima +explained. "I might easily have made a blunder." + +"She wrote to me," was the answer. "I have it in black and white. +There's no getting out of that." + +"It must be a quarter to eight!" Carrissima suggested. + +"Seventeen minutes to," said Mark, taking out his watch. + +"I hope no accident has happened," suggested Carrissima, and bringing +forward a chair, he sat down close to her side. "One is reminded," she +added, "of a certain evening when Lawrence and Phoebe waited for +you--do you remember?" + +"Oh dear, yes," said Mark, passing a hand over his forehead. "Let us +hope these people won't be quite so much behind as I was!" + +"Are you afraid of being bored?" asked Carrissima. "Or are you merely +hungry?" + +"It seems a long time since I saw you last," he remarked. + +"Whose fault was that?" + +"My misfortune, anyhow," he admitted. + +"You had only to come to Grandison Square," said Carrissima. "You knew +I was always on view!" + +They both lapsed into silence, thinking in common of his last visit to +Colonel Faversham's, when, perhaps, neither of them had shown to the +best advantage. + +"It's difficult to shut one's mind to facts," exclaimed Mark suddenly. + +"I fancy I have heard you protest that few things can be more +misleading," she retorted. + +He sat leaning forward in his chair, close to Carrissima's, his arms +resting on his knees. + +"Yes, that's all right," he said. "But I have sometimes to advise +patients to submit to operations, thinking how I should hate the ordeal +on my own account. I quite understand that the only way is often to +shut one's eyes. Life seems to include a good many things which simply +won't bear thinking about. One realizes the fact, yet goes on thinking +of them just the same." + +"Well," murmured Carrissima, "you should try--you should try to mend +your ways in the future." + +"Do you think you could do it?" he asked. + +"What?" asked Carrissima. + +"Shut your eyes!" + +"Mark!" she cried, after a pause. + +"Well?" he said. + +"Look----" + +She was leaning back with her eyes tightly closed; her little face +puckered, and one hand resting on each arm of the chair. + +At the sight all Mark's hesitation fell away, and rising impulsively, +he took her cheeks between his palms and kissed her lips. The touch of +nature made them kin, but not within the tables of affinity. They +might have reasoned with themselves for months longer in vain, but +being thrown alone together, their feelings quickly found free play. + +It was true that Carrissima, although she may have hoped, and indeed +she did devoutly hope for such a consummation, was in the sequel taken +rather sharply by surprise. She had not anticipated this sudden +_denouement_! The time for procrastination had passed, however, and as +she opened her eyes she wound her arms about Mark's neck. + +"It must be nearly eight o'clock," she remarked, as she rose from her +chair a few minutes later, going at once to look in the mirror which +formed part of the overmantel. + +"Carrissima," said Mark, "I begin to suspect----" + +"What?" she demanded. + +"That this must be a put-up job!" + +"Oh, but Bridget would never dream of such a thing," said Carrissima. + +"I should be rather sorry to say what she wouldn't be capable of. +Anyhow," Mark added, "it would be a pity to spoil a good intention! +You haven't said you will be my wife, you know." + +"I--I fancied that I had," she was answering, when there arose a noise +outside the drawing-room as if some one had violently knocked over a +metal tray. + +By the time the door opened, Carrissima was seated in the easy-chair +gazing at the fire, while Mark stood at the farther side of the small +room with one of David Rosser's novels (hastily snatched from a side +table) in his hand. + +Enter Bridget, accompanied by Jimmy and looking her best in what might +have been her wedding dress. + +"So immensely sorry!" she cried, hastening forward as Carrissima rose. + +"She looks sorry, doesn't she?" said Jimmy, with a laugh. "You must +both try your hardest to forgive us," he added, as Bridget turned +towards Mark. + +"I do hope you two good people haven't been bored to death," she +continued. "Especially as Mark seems to be reading one of my father's +books!" + +"We've done our level best--in the circumstances," he answered, with an +embarrassed, boyish laugh, and then, dinner being announced, Jimmy +offered his arm to Carrissima. While the servants were present +everybody seemed to have a great deal to say with the exception of Miss +Faversham, whose silence failed, however, to attract the least +attention. By the time dessert was reached she began to show symptoms +of recovering from her not unnatural embarrassment; Jimmy's glass was +full. He drank champagne this evening. + +"I was wondering," said Mark, when the four were left by themselves, +"whether I might be of some use before the evening ended. Carrissima +suggested an accident." + +"There was not much you could call accidental about it, was there, +Bridget?" said Jimmy. + +"Oh dear!" she exclaimed, "I wish somebody would say something +illuminating! I am positively dying from curiosity!" + +"The important question is," suggested Jimmy, "what did Carrissima say?" + +"And," said Bridget, "what did Mark ask her?" + +Carrissima looked entreatingly into his face across the table. + +"The fact is," he explained, disregarding her mute appeal, "I asked her +to marry me!" + +Bridget was on her feet in an instant. + +"Oh, how immensely pleased I am!" she cried, stooping to kiss +Carrissima's forehead. "Jimmy, you may drink your wine now!" + +He lost no time in raising his glass. + +"Carrissima!" he said. "Mark, old chap!" + +She looked across the table, half smiles, half tears. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Enter Bridget, by Thomas Cobb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENTER BRIDGET *** + +***** This file should be named 18280.txt or 18280.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/8/18280/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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