Part 48 (1/2)
”Take it--and give it to the organ-grinder!” she called, in the madness of her rage.
He did not even look whither the ring had rolled. Without a single word he quite calmly turned and opened the door and pa.s.sed outside. Nay, he was so considerate as to leave the door open for her; for he knew she would be wanted on the stage directly. He himself went up into the wings--in his gay costume of satin and silk and powdered wig and ruffles.
Had the audience only known, during the last act of this comedy, what fierce pa.s.sions were agitating the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the two chief performers in this pretty play, they might have looked on with added interest. How could they tell that the gallant and das.h.i.+ng Harry Thornhill was in his secret heart filled with anger and disdain whenever he came near his charming sweetheart? how could they divine that the coquettish Grace Mainwaring was not thinking of her wiles and graces at all, but was on the road to a most piteous repentance? The one was saying to himself, ”Very well, let the vixen go to the devil; a happy riddance!” and the other was saying, ”Oh, dear me, what have I done?--why did he put me in such a pa.s.sion?” But the public in the stalls were all unknowing. They looked on and laughed, or looked on and sat solemn and stolid, as happened to be their nature; and then they slightly clapped their pale-gloved hands, and rose and donned their cloaks and coats. They had forgotten what the piece was about by the time they reached their broughams.
Later on, at the stage-door, whither a four-wheeler had been brought for her, Miss Burgoyne lingered. Presently Lionel came along. He would have pa.s.sed her, but she intercepted him; and in the dusk outside she thrust forth her hand.
”Will you forgive me, Lionel? I ask your forgiveness,” she said, in an undertone that was suggestive of tears. ”I don't know what made me say such things--I didn't mean them--I'm very sorry. See,” she continued, and in the dull lamp-light she showed him her ungloved hand, with the engagement-ring in its former place--”I have put on the ring again. Of course, you are hurt and offended; but you are more forgiving than a woman--a man should be. I will never say a word against her again; I should have remembered how you were companions before she came to England; and I can understand your affection for her, and your--your regret about her going away. Now will you be generous?--will you forgive me?”
”Oh, yes, that's all right,” he said--as he was bound to say.
”But that's not enough. Will you come now and have some supper with Jim and me, and we'll talk about everything--except that one thing?”
”No, thanks, I can't; I have an engagement,” he made answer.
She hesitated for a moment. Then she offered him her hand again.
”Well, at all events, bygones are to be bygones,” she said. ”And to-morrow I'm going to begin to knit a woollen vest for you, that you can slip on before you come out. Good-night, dearest!”
”Good-night,” he said; and he opened the door of the cab for her and told the cabman her address; then--rather slowly and absently--he set out for the Garden Club.
The first person he beheld at the Garden Club was Octavius Quirk--of course at the supper-table.
”Going to Lady Adela's on the 3d?” said the bilious-looking Quirk, in a gay manner.
”I should want to be asked first,” was Lionel's simple rejoinder.
”Ah!” said the other, complacently, ”I heard you had not been much there lately. A charming house--most interesting--quite delightful to see people of their station so eagerly devoted to the arts. Music, painting, literature--all the elegancies of life--and all touched with a light and graceful hand. You should read some of Lady Adela's descriptions in her new book--not seen it?--no?--ah, well, it will be out before long for the general world to read. As I was saying, her descriptions of places abroad are simply charming--charming. There's where the practised traveller comes in; no heavy and laborious work; the striking peculiarities. .h.i.t off with the most delicate appreciation: the _fine fleur_ of difference noted everywhere. Your bourgeois goes and rams his bull's head against everything he meets; he's in wonderment and ecstacy almost before he lands; he stares with astonishment at a fisherwoman on Calais pier and weeps maudlin tears over the masonry of the Sainte Chapelle. Then Lady Adela's style--marvellous, marvellous. I give you my word as an expert! Full of distinction; choice; fastidious; penetrated everywhere by a certain _je ne sais quoi_ of dexterity and apt.i.tude; each word charged with color, as a critic might say. You have not seen any of the sheets?” continued Mr. Quirk, with his mouth full of steak and olives. ”Dear me! You haven't quarrelled with Lady Adela, have you?
I did hear there was some little disappointment that you did not get Lady Sybil's 'Soldiers' Marching Song' introduced at the New Theatre; but I dare say the composer wouldn't have his operetta interfered with.
Even you are not all-powerful. However, Lady Adela is unreasonable if she has taken offence: I will see that it is put right.”
”I wouldn't trouble you--thanks!” said Lionel, rather coldly; and then, having eaten a biscuit and drank a gla.s.s of claret and water, he went up-stairs to the card-room.
There were two tables occupied--one party playing whist, the other poker; to the latter Lionel idly made his way.
”Coming in, Moore?”
”Oh, yes, I'll come in. What are you playing?”
”Usual thing: sixpenny ante and five-s.h.i.+lling limit.”
”Let's have it a s.h.i.+lling ante and a sovereign limit,” he proposed, as they made room for him at the table, and to this they agreed, and the game began.
At first Lionel could get no hands at all, but he never went out; sometimes he drew four cards to an ace or a queen, sometimes he took the whole five; while his losses, if steady, were not material. Occasionally he bluffed, and got a small pot; but it was risky, as he was distinctly in a run of bad luck. At last he was dealt nine, ten, knave, queen, ace, in different suite. This looked better.
”How many?” asked the dealer.
”I will take one card, if you please,” he said, throwing away the ace.