Part 12 (1/2)
Mrs. Lascelles saw the change at a glance, and knew with womanly instinct that something more had happened to her friend than a common river accident, however dangerous it might have been. Without removing her bonnet, she settled herself in an arm-chair the moment she entered the other's room, determined to find out everything that had taken place. As the two women sat together in that light, cheerful, prettily-furnished chamber, they afforded no unsightly study of effect, as resulting from contrast, of the respective proportion in which feminine attractions are enhanced by dress and _deshabille_. The fairer beauty wore a costume I am constrained to admire, but shrink from attempting to describe, inasmuch as it seemed to combine the different attractions by which victory is a.s.sured at b.a.l.l.s, dinners, regattas, races, suburban breakfasts, county archery-meetings, the morning cricket-match, and the afternoon tea. How it was put together, and of what fabric, I am brutally ignorant: you might as well ask me to articulate the anatomy of a humming-bird or describe the dress of a dragon-fly; but I am prepared to protest that it was voluminous, enchanting, transparent, and that there was _mauve_ in it. To have white teeth, red lips, dancing blue eyes, rich brown hair, and a bloom like a peach, is all very well, but does it seem quite fair play to dispose around these natural advantages certain delicate and filmy draperies, that set them off as a summer haze glorifies some Devons.h.i.+re valley under the noon-day sun? ”Scaldings!” quoth honest Jack-tar, creeping along the deck with anything that may be spilt. ”_Vae Victis!_” says Brennus, turning up his moustache at the gates of Rome. ”Look out for yourselves, gentlemen!” seems to be the interpretation of either warning, ”and make the best terms you can!” For my part, I think it is wise policy to surrender at discretion, and sink point with the first clash of steel.
Mrs. Lascelles, you see, shone in mail and plate; armed, so to speak, at all points. Miss Ross, on the other hand, was in light skirmis.h.i.+ng order--none the less dangerous, however--and prepared, you may be sure, for immediate attack. Her black hair fell about her in s.h.i.+ning folds, over a white surface fretted with frills and laces, set off by knots of cherry-coloured ribbon; a band of the same hue was drawn loosely round her slender waist; open sleeves disclosed a pair of ivory arms to the elbows; and she had slippers on, but no stockings. I think I have described her enough.
”So he pulled you out, dear, just as you were sinking, propped you in his arms, with your head on his shoulder, and both did the regular stage business, of course: 'My precious!'--'my preserver!'--'awakened feelings!'--'eternal grat.i.tude!' and a duet at the foot-lights.
Seriously, Jin, it is quite a romance in these prosaic days.”
Mrs. Lascelles found herself amused as well as interested by the glowing colours, not devoid of caricature, in which Miss Ross described her late adventure and its hero.
”Nothing of the kind,” protested Jin, with energy. ”On the contrary, I never saw a man take anything so quietly. You'd think he pulled people out of the Thames once a week. I don't suppose the thing will ever enter his head again.”
”That would be very uncomplimentary, my dear,” answered Mrs. Lascelles; ”and you can't really suppose anything of the sort. Now, honour! Don't you expect him to call here to-morrow morning, the very first thing after breakfast?”
”Why shouldn't he?” replied Jin hotly. ”It wouldn't follow that he meant more than an act of common courtesy, which he must have paid any lady after so--so ludicrous a performance as ours!”
Here she burst out laughing, but did not thereby in the least deceive her friend.
”Jin,” said the latter, after a pause, during which each had scanned the other narrowly, ”what do you think of him?”
”Think of who?” said Jin. It was bad grammar, but people are very obstinate about grammar in common conversation, particularly when they turn away their heads with a blush.
”Who?” repeated Mrs. Lascelles. ”Why, this new admirer, of course. This hero, perhaps I ought rather to say, this Leander, this Windsor Bridge swan, this duck of a dragoon! Shall you be able to abide by our compact, and treat him like the rest? Jin, Jin, I should be sorry for you, my poor girl, very sorry, of course, but yet I should laugh, I am afraid, too, if you were to be caught at last, and fall in love--souse!--as you fell into the Thames!”
”I don't know what you mean,” answered Miss Ross, with great dignity.
”The one I couldn't help, and it would have been hard on me to be drowned. If I did the other, I should deserve never to get my head above water again.”
”After all, I don't see why it should be so inexcusable,” pursued her tormentor. ”Though they have not had such a chance as yours, depend upon it, lots of others are after him. He's a strong, enterprising young man, as you've reason to admit. n.o.body can deny his good looks, and though he hasn't a superfluity of brains, he's always very well dressed.”
”You wouldn't have said so if you had seen him to-day,” laughed Miss Ross. ”My dear, he was almost ready for bathing long before he jumped out of the boat. But seriously,” she resumed with imposing gravity, ”I have no secrets from _you_, Rose, and I don't wish _you_, of all people, to carry away a false impression of me or my opinions. About Captain Vanguard's good looks I know nothing, for I've never considered them, and as for his being stupid, that I'm sure he's _not_. Decidedly well-read, I should say, from his conversation. However, that's not the question. He has done me a very great service, the greatest, probably, that one human being can do another; for, though I laugh at it now, it seemed no laughing matter, I a.s.sure you, while that dreadful whirl of water was filling mouth, and nose, and ears; but if you think I am so missy-ish that I consider it necessary to fall in love with Captain Vanguard because he saved me from drowning, why you never were more mistaken in your life. He's a gentleman, Rose, and a fine fellow, I freely admit. I shall always feel grateful to him, and look on him as a friend, but as for being in _love_ with him--bos.h.!.+ Knowing me as well as you do, Rose, I wonder you can talk such nonsense!”
From all which vehemence, and especially from the gratuitous energy of her friend's denial, I think Mrs. Lascelles was justified in entertaining a strong impression the very reverse of that which was intended to be conveyed.
Her opinion gained strength from the readiness with which Jin accepted a suggestion that it might be more prudent to remain another day at the villa, instead of returning to London on the morrow, taking into consideration the afternoon's excitement, the hot weather, and the comfort of their present quarters.
”My dear, I should like to stay a month!” exclaimed Miss Ross. ”It's a paradise on earth for scenery. Uncle Joseph's the best host in the universe, and we're all so happy. Besides, London is too detestable in this weather. I declare to you, Rose, it was hotter last week than I ever felt it in the South of France.”
Mrs. Lascelles pondered, reflecting that she, too, had liked her visit very much. It was pleasant enough to keep her hand in by laying siege to Sir Henry, no great infliction to accept the slavish adoration of Goldthred. If these could be induced to remain, a few days might pa.s.s very agreeably at The Lilies, and Uncle Joseph, of course, would only be too happy to keep them as long as they liked.
”But our London engagements,” said she doubtfully.
”There are none for the next week we need mind throwing over,” replied Jin, whose memory was always to be depended on. ”A heavy dinner at Lord Gasper's--twenty people we don't know, not a man under forty, and all the windows shut. Mrs. Potterton's concert--second-rate company, third-rate singers, two hundred people asked and sitting-room for fifty.
Lady Jericho's drum--small and early, like young potatoes; she'll be mortally affronted, and won't ask us again; but she's not going to give anything more this season, so that don't signify! Dear Rose, it would be very nice. Let us stay.”
Now, in justice to Miss Ross, I feel bound to insist that this sudden hatred of London gaiety and pa.s.sion for rural scenery was not due solely to her adventure with Frank Vanguard. One of the strongest motives that can sway a woman's feelings prompted her to remain in the neighbourhood of Mrs. Mole. To have seen her long-lost child for one short hour, to have held him in her arms, set him on her knees, and folded his curly little head to her bosom, was like a mouthful of water to a man fainting from thirst, delightful, invigorating, life-restoring, but creating an insupportable craving for more.
It may be that this interview had softened Jin's whole moral being, rendering her more susceptible to the gentler emotions of her nature, against which she had long waged unnatural war. It may be that in the subjection of Frank Vanguard she hoped to acquire another va.s.sal, or at least an ally, against the time when she might want to summon all her forces for the furtherance of her plans. Perhaps she had many reasons, perhaps she had none at all, but acted, woman-like, on her instinct and her desires. However this may be, she brought out all her powers of persuasion to fortify her friend in the plan that seemed so delightful, of remaining yet a while longer at The Lilies; but I must leave to those who understand a woman's nature, if such philosophers there be, the task of explaining why Jin should have felt at this moment less affection, less grat.i.tude to Mrs. Lascelles, and altogether less dependence on her benefactress, than during the whole of their previous acquaintance.
Dinner that day, at least until the champagne had circulated, was less lively than usual. Everybody seemed silent and pre-occupied. Sir Henry, to use his own expression, had not ”got out” in time on one of the princ.i.p.al races, and as the favourite was never ”in the hunt,” being beaten half a mile from home, the baronet experienced a double annoyance, of losing his money, and feeling also that he had been less astute than his neighbours when he suffered Outrigger to carry a large stake for him in the Thames Handicap. Mrs. Lascelles, watching his face narrowly, began to torment herself, but taking her tone from his, these two presently recovered their equanimity. Sir Henry liked champagne, and drank it freely. The exhilarating tendency of that agreeable wine, acting on the buoyancy of his disposition, soon put dull care to flight, and before dinner was half over, he had forgotten ill-luck, losses, and embarra.s.sments, and disposed himself to grasp the enjoyments of the present as only such natures can.