Part 22 (1/2)

It was a common phrase among the reviewers--though Messrs.

Lash and Black carefully cut it out of their selections for advertis.e.m.e.nt--that the book with all its merits was in no way remarkable; and the publishers were as much astonished as anybody else when the first edition was exhausted in three weeks. Yet the agreeable fact remained that the reviewers gave it the amount of s.p.a.ce usually a.s.signed to books allowed to be remarkable, and that the _Athenian_ announced the second edition to be had ”at all book-sellers'” on a certain Monday. ”When they say it is not remarkable,” wrote Kendal to Janet, ”they mean that it is not heroic, and that it is published in one volume, at six s.h.i.+llings. To be remarkable--to the trade--it should have dealt with epic pa.s.sion, in three volumes, at thirty.”

To him the book had a charm quite apart from its literary value, in the revelation it made of its author. It was the first piece of work Janet had done from a seriously artistic point of view, into which she had thrown herself without fence or guard, and it was to him as if she had stepped from behind a mask. He wrote to her about it with the confidence of the new relation it established between them; he looked forward with warm pleasure to the closer intimacy which it would bring. To Janet, living in this new sweetness of their better understanding, only one thing was lacking--Elfrida made no sign. If Janet could have known, it was impossible. In her review Elfrida had done all she could. She had forced herself to write it before she touched a line of her own work, and now, persistently remote in her attic, she strove every night over the pile of notes which represented the ambition that sent its roots daily deeper into the fibre of her being. Twice she made up her mind to go to Kensington Square, and found she could not--the last time being the day the _Decade_ said that a new and larger edition of ”John Camberwell” was in preparation.

Ten days after her return the maid at Kensington Square, with a curious look, brought up Elfrida's card to Janet.

Miss Bell was in the drawing-room, she said. Yes, she had told Miss Bell Miss Cardiff was up in the library, but Miss Bell said she would wait in the drawing-room.

Janet looked at the card in astonishment, debating with herself what it might mean--such a formality was absurd between them. Why had not Elfrida come up at once to this third-story den of theirs she knew so well? What new preposterous caprice was this? She went down gravely, chilled; but before she reached the drawing-room door she resolved to take it another way, as a whim, as matter for scolding. After all, she was glad Elfrida had come back to her on any terms. She went in radiant, with a quick step, holding the card at arm's length.

”To what,” she demanded mockingly, ”am I to attribute the honor of this visit?” but she seized Elfrida lightly and kissed her on both cheeks before it was possible for her to reply.

The girl disengaged herself gently. ”Oh I have come, like the rest, to lay my homage at your feet,” she said, with a little smile that put s.p.a.ces between them. ”You did not expect me to deny myself that pleasure?”

”Don't be absurd, Frida. When did you come back to town?”

”When did I come back?” Elfrida repeated slowly, watching for the effect of her words. ”On the first, I think it was.”

”And this is the tenth!” Janet exclaimed; adding helplessly, ”You _are_ an enigma! Why didn't you let me know?”

”How could I suppose that you would care to know anything just now--except what the papers tell you.”

Janet regarded her silently, saying nothing. Under her look Elfrida's expression changed a little, grew uncomfortable. The elder girl felt the chill, the seriousness with which she received the card upstairs, return upon her suddenly, and she became aware that she could not, with self-respect, fight it any longer.

”If you thought that,” she said gravely, ”it was a curious thing to think. But I believe I am indebted to you for one of the pleasantest things the papers have been telling me,” she went on, with constraint. ”It was very kind--much too kind. Thank you very much.”

Elfrida looked up, half frightened at the revulsion of her tone. ”But--but your book is delightful. I was no more charmed than everybody must be. And it has made a tremendous. .h.i.t, hasn't it?”

”Thanks, I believe it is doing a fair amount of credit to its publishers. They are very pus.h.i.+ng people.”

”How delicious it must feel!” Elfrida said. Her words were more like those of their ordinary relation, but her tone and manner had the aloofness of the merest acquaintance. Janet felt a slow anger grow up in her. It was intolerable, this dictation of their relation. Elfrida desired a change--she should have it, but not at her caprice. Janet's innate dominance rose up and a.s.serted a superior right to make the terms between them, and all the hidden jar, the unacknowledged contempt, the irritation, the hurt and the stress of the year that had pa.s.sed rushed in from banishment and gained possession of her. She took just an appreciable instant to steady herself, and then her gray eyes regarded Elfrida with a calm remoteness in them which gave the other girl a quick impression of having done more than she meant to do, gone too far to return. Their glances met, and Elfrida's eyes, unquiet and undecided, dropped before Janet's. Already she had a vibrant regret.

”You enjoyed being out of town, of course,” Janet said.

”It is always pleasant to leave London for a while, I think.”

There was a cool masterfulness in the tone of this that arrested Elfrida's feeling of half-penitence, and armed her instantly. Whatever desire she had felt to a.s.sert and indulge her individuality at any expense, in her own att.i.tude there had been the consciousness of what they owed one another. She had defied it, perhaps, but it had been there. In this it was ignored; Janet had gone a step further--her tone expressed the blankest indifference.

Elfrida drew herself up.

”Thanks, it was delightful. An escape from London always is, as you say. Unfortunately, one is obliged to come back.”

Janet laughed lightly. ”Oh, I don't know that I go so far as that. I rather like coming back too. And you have missed one or two things, you know, by being away.”

”The Lord Mayor's Show?” asked Elfrida, angry that she could not restrain the curl of her lip.

”Oh dear, no! That comes off in November--don't you remember? Things at the theatres chiefly. Oh, Jessie, Jessie!” she went on, shaking her head at the maid who had come in with the tray, ”you're a quarter of an hour late with tea! Make it for us now, where you are, and remember that Miss Bell doesn't like cream.”

The maid blushed and smiled under the easy reproof, and did as she was told. Janet chatted on pleasantly about the one or two first nights she had seen, and Elfrida felt for a moment that the situation was hopelessly changed. She had an intense, unreasonable indignation.

The maid had scarcely left the room when her blind search for means of retaliation succeeded.

”But one is not necessarily wholly Without diversions in the provinces. I had, for instance, the pleasure of a visit from Mr. Cardiff.”