Part 28 (1/2)
'Eleanor gave my book too much sympathy. It wanted brutality. I have worn her out--and my book is in a mess. The best thing I could do for us both--was to cut it short.'
Lucy was uncomfortably silent.
'There's no use in talking about it,' Manisty went on, impatiently, with a shake of his great shoulders; 'I am not meant to work in partners.h.i.+p. A word of blame depresses me; and I am made a fool by praise. It was all a mistake. If only Eleanor could understand--that it's my own fault--and I know it's my own fault--and not think me unjust and unkind. Miss Foster--'
Lucy looked up. In the glance she encountered, the vigorous and wilful personality beside her seemed to bring all its force to bear upon herself--
'--if Eleanor talks to you--
'She never does!' cried Lucy.
'She might,' said Manisty, coolly. 'She might. If she does, persuade her of my admiration, my grat.i.tude! Tell her that I know very well that I am not worth her help. Her inspiration would have led any other man to success. It only failed because I was I. I hate to seem to discourage and disavow what I once accepted so eagerly.--But a man must find out his own mistakes--and thrash his own blunders. She was too kind to thrash them--so I have appointed Neal to the office. Do you understand?'
She rose, full of wavering approvals and disapprovals, seized by him,--and feeling with Mrs. Burgoyne.
'I understand only a very little,' she said, lifting her clear eyes to his; 'except that I never saw anyone I--I cared for so much, in so short a time--as Mrs. Burgoyne.'
'Ah! care for her!' he said, in another voice, with another aspect. 'Go on caring for her! She needs it.'
They walked on together towards the villa, for Alfredo was on the balcony signalling to them that the twelve o'clock breakfast was ready.
On the way Manisty turned upon her.
'Now, you are to be obedient! You are not to pay any attention to my sister. She is not a happy person--but you are not to be sorry for her. You can't understand her; and I beg you will not try. You are, please, to leave her alone. Can I trust you?'
'Hadn't you better send me into Rome?' said Lucy, laughing and embarra.s.sed.
'I always intended to do so,' said Manisty shortly.
Towards five o'clock, Alice Manisty arrived, accompanied by an elderly maid. Lucy, before she escaped into the garden, was aware of a very tall woman, possessing a harshly handsome face, black eyes, and a thin long-limbed frame. These black eyes, uneasily bright, searched the salon, as she entered it, only to fasten, with a kind of grip, in which there was no joy, upon her brother. Lucy saw her kiss him with a cold perfunctoriness, bowed herself, as her name was nervously p.r.o.nounced by Miss Manisty, and then withdrew. Mrs. Burgoyne was in Rome for the afternoon.
But at dinner they all met, and Lucy could satisfy some of the curiosity that burnt in her very feminine mind. Alice Manisty was dressed in black lace and satin, and carried herself with stateliness. Her hair, black like her brother's, though with a fine line of grey here and there, was of enormous abundance, and she wore it heavily coiled round her head in a mode which gave particular relief to the fire and restlessness of the eyes which flashed beneath it. Beside her, Eleanor Burgoyne, though she too was rather tall than short, suffered a curious eclipse. The plaintive distinction that made the charm of Eleanor's expression and movements seemed for the moment to mean and say nothing, beside the tragic splendour of Alice Manisty.
The dinner was not agreeable. Manisty was clearly ill at ease, and seething with inward annoyance; Miss Manisty had the air of a frightened mouse; Alice Manisty talked not at all, and ate nothing except some poached eggs that she had apparently ordered for herself before dinner; and Eleanor--chattering of her afternoon in Rome--had to carry through the business as best she could, with occasional help from Lucy.
From the first it was unpleasantly evident to Manisty that his sister took notice of Miss Foster. Almost her only words at table were addressed to the girl sitting opposite to her; and her roving eyes returned again and again to Lucy's fresh young face and quiet brow.
After dinner Manisty followed the ladies into the salon, and asked his aunt's leave to smoke his cigarette with them.
Lucy wondered what had pa.s.sed between him and his sister before dinner. He was polite to her; and yet she fancied that their relations were already strained.
Presently, as Lucy was busy with some embroidery on one of the settees against the wall of the salon, she was conscious of Alice Manisty's approach. The new-comer sat down beside her, bent over her work, asked her a few low, deep-voiced questions. Those strange eyes fastened upon her,--stared at her indeed.
But instantly Manisty was there, cigarette in hand, standing between them.
He distracted his sister's attention, and at the same moment Eleanor called to Lucy from the piano.
'Won't you turn over for me? I can't play them by heart.'