Part 4 (1/2)
”Tony Standish, you must be blind and crazy!” she burst out tempestuously. ”I won't come to Auchinleven if Don Carlos is to be one of your house party. I won't! Surely you must have seen for yourself that Don Carlos has been making love to me on every possible occasion for weeks? Yes, right in front of your very nose, Tony. He said he would see to it that we were fellow-guests for the shooting--and now you have invited him to Auchinleven!”
”I--er--I say, Myra, this is news to me,” exclaimed Tony, flabbergasted. ”You--er--you don't actually mean to say that Don Carlos has been making love to you in earnest? I can't imagine his doing such a thing. I mean to say he--er--he seems an awfully good sort, although he is a foreigner, and he and I have become quite pally.
He seems quite a good sport, and he does not strike me as being the sort of chap who would poach on another fellow's preserves. Really, Myra, this is quite a shock!”
”If you are referring to me as your 'preserves,' Tony, Don Carlos has certainly been poaching--or trying to poach,” said Myra. ”He persists in making love to me and refuses to be rebuffed, and he has repeatedly sworn that he will take me from you and make me his own at all costs.”
”The deuce he has!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tony, surprised, indignant, and fl.u.s.tered. ”I say, Myra dear, I--er--I wish--er--I wish you'd told me this before--I mean before he and I became pally, I had no idea he was really making love to you. No idea, I a.s.sure you. If I'd known, I certainly wouldn't have invited him to Auchinleven or accepted his presents. Now I don't know what the deuce to do. I'm in a frightfully awkward position. Frightfully awkward!”
”Frightfully awkward!” Myra mimicked. ”Oh, Tony, don't be such a duffer! Unless you want to lose me, you've got to tell Don Carlos de Ruiz--and tell him very, very plainly--that his attempts to make love to me and win me away from you have got to stop. You've got to warn him off.”
”Why, of course I will, darling,” said Tony, in fl.u.s.tered haste.
”Confound the fellow! I should not have believed it of him. Never heard of such outrageous conduct. I'll go and see him at once, Myra, and warn him that if he dares to attempt to make love to you again I'll--er--I'll show him! Yes, by Jove!”
He rushed off, full of righteous indignation but still feeling he was in a ”frightfully awkward position,” to interview Don Carlos, whom he found wearing a silken dressing gown and stretched out luxuriously among cus.h.i.+ons on a settee in his suite at the Ritz.
”My dear Standish, how good of you to return my call so soon!” cried Don Carlos, rising with a welcoming smile as Tony was shown in. ”I am truly delighted to see you. You know what a pleasure is an unexpected visit from a friend when one is feeling bored. Sit down and make yourself comfortable, my dear Standish, and let me mix you a drink.”
”Er--no, thank you,” said Standish, disarmed to some extent at the outset, for he felt it would be boorish and ”bad form” to have a row with a man who seemed to hold him in high regard. ”No, I won't have a drink. As a matter of fact, Don Carlos, I have called to see you in connection with--er--with a delicate personal matter.”
”My dear Mr. Standish, I am flattered that you should make me your confidant, and I shall be only too pleased if I can a.s.sist you.”
”a.s.sist me! Hang it all, sir, you--er--you don't seem to understand!”
spluttered Tony, taken aback again, but determined, nevertheless, to ”have it out” with the Spaniard. ”I--er--I haven't called to take you into my confidence or anything of the sort. I have come to demand an explanation.”
”An explanation?” Don Carlos raised his black eyebrows in seeming bewilderment. ”An explanation? Concerning what, Mr. Standish?”
”Concerning your outrageous conduct, sir,” blurted out Tony, trying to look fierce, but succeeding only in looking hot and embarra.s.sed.
”Concerning Myra--Miss Rostrevor. She tells me you have persistently been attempting to make love to her ever since you first met her, and have even gone so far as to ask her to throw me over and elope with you! What the deuce do you mean by it, sir? Miss Rostrevor, as you are well aware, is engaged to be married to me. How dare you make love to my fiancee?”
CHAPTER IV
Don Carlos's eyebrows rose still higher, his lips twitched, and Tony Standish got the impression that it was only with difficulty he was refraining from laughing outright. That angered him, and his ruddy face became still redder.
”Well, what have you to say for yourself?” he demanded, after a pause.
”This is no laughing matter.”
”My dear Mr. Standish, what can I say for myself?” Don Carlos retorted, quietly and gravely. ”Your demand for an explanation places me in a most embarra.s.sing position. How should one answer in the circ.u.mstances. If Miss Rostrevor has told you I have been making love to her, I cannot deny the accusation without casting doubt on the word of the most charming and beautiful girl in the world. Yet if I admit that Miss Rostrevor is justified in her accusation, you may decide I have been acting dishonourably, and I shall lose your friends.h.i.+p.
Condenacion! Was ever man placed in such an awkward position!”
”Look here, you will certainly make matters worse if you dare to insinuate that Myra was not telling the truth,” exclaimed Standish hotly.
”I quite appreciate that, my dear Mr. Standish, and I realise, also, that Miss Rostrevor would be justified in hating me if I dared to cast doubt on her a.s.sertions,” said Don Carlos more gravely than ever, with a sigh and a shrug. ”So I must, perforce, confess that I have been making persistent love to Miss Rostrevor ever since I first met her, and--well, I am quite prepared to take the consequences. How do you deal with such a situation in England? In my country we would fight a duel, and the lady would marry the survivor. Should you think of fighting a duel, however, Mr. Standish, it is only fair to warn you that I am an expert swordsman and a dead shot. How shall we deal with the matter?”
Baffled, and at a loss to know how to deal with the situation, Tony Standish glowered at him, with the uncomfortable sensation that he was making a fool of himself, and that Don Carlos was inwardly laughing at him.
”It isn't a matter to jest about,” he said stiffly. ”That sort of thing isn't done in England, and I must ask you to refrain from approaching Miss Rostrevor again.”