Part 22 (2/2)
”I did not. _Robert_--” with the faintest stress on the name--”was the only Clephane I knew. A nice chap, Mrs. Clephane; though, since you're not his widow, I must admit that he was a bit gay--a very considerable bit indeed.”
”We heard tales of it,” Mrs. Clephane replied imperturbably. ”It is an ungracious thing, Mrs. Spencer, to scandalize the dead, but do you know anything of his gayness from your own experience?”
Harleston suppressed a chuckle. Mrs. Clephane would take care of herself, he imagined.
Mrs. Spencer's foot paused in its swinging, and for an instant her eyes narrowed; then she smiled engagingly, the smile growing quickly into a laugh.
”Not of my own experience, Mrs. Clephane,” she replied confidentially, ”but I have it from those who do know, that he set a merry pace and travelled the limit with his fair companions. It was sad, too--he was a most charming fellow. Rumour also had it that he was none too happy in his marriage, and that _his_ Mrs. Clephane was something of the same sort. I've seen _her_ several times; she was of the type to make men's hearts flutter.”
”It's no particular trick to make men's hearts flutter,” said Mrs.
Clephane sweetly.
”How about it, Mr. Harleston?” Mrs. Spencer asked.
”No trick whatever,” he agreed, ”provided she choose the proper method for the particular man; and some men are easier than others.”
”For instance?” Mrs. Spencer inflected.
”No instance. I give it to you as a general proposition and without charge; which is something unusual in these days of tips and gratuities and subsidized graft and things equally predatory.”
Mrs. Spencer arose. ”The mere mention of graft puts me to instant flight,” she remarked.
”And naturally even the suggestion of a crime is equally repugnant to you,” Mrs. Clephane observed.
”'As a general proposition,'” Mrs. Spencer quoted.
”And general propositions are best proved by exceptions, _n'est-ce pas_?” was the quick yet drawling answer.
The two women's eyes met.
”I trust, Mrs. Clephane, we shall meet again and soon,” Mrs. Spencer replied, extending her hand.
”Thank you so much,” was Mrs. Clephane's answer.
Mrs. Spencer turned to Harleston with a perfectly entrancing smile.
”Good-night, Guy,” she murmured.--”No, sir, not a foot; I'm going up to my apartment.”
”Then we will convoy you to the elevator. Come, Mr. Harleston.”
”It is only a step,” Mrs. Spencer protested.
”Nevertheless,” said Mrs. Clephane, ”we shall not permit you to brave alone this Peac.o.c.k Alley and its heedless crowd.”
And putting her arm intimately through Mrs. Spencer's she went on: with Harleston trailing in the rear and chuckling with suppressed glee. It was not often that Madeline Spencer met her match!
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