Part 37 (2/2)
Then he buried himself in Boethius, and Mark, looking out of the window, saw the life of the lake and the glory of the summer sky reflected. Beyond the s.h.i.+ning water Bellagio's towers and cypresses were ma.s.sed under a little mountain. From time to time there sounded the beat of paddle wheels, as the white steamers came and went.
Doria returned for a while during the afternoon, and Jenny told him that her uncle was better but still thought it wise to keep his room. Her husband appeared to have recovered his good temper. He drank wine, ate fruit and addressed most of his conversation to Brendon, who spoke with him in the dining-room for a while.
”When you and Mr. Ganns are weary of hunting this red shadow, I hope you will come and see me at Turin,” he said. ”And perhaps you will also be able to convince Jenny that my suggestions are reasonable.
What is money for? She has twenty thousand pounds upon her hands and I, her husband, offer such an investment as falls to the chance of few capitalists. You shall come and see what my friends and I are doing at Turin. Then you will make her think better of my sense!”
”A new motor car, you told me?” asked Mark.
”Yes--a car that will be to all other cars as an ocean 'liner' to Noah's Ark. Millions are staring us in the face. Yet we languish for the modest thousands to launch us. The little dogs find the hare; the big dogs hold him.”
Jenny said nothing. Then Doria turned to her and bade her pack his clothes.
”I cannot stop here,” he said when she had gone. ”This is no life for a man. Jenny will probably remain with her uncle. She is fed up, as you say, with me. I am very unfortunate, Marco, for I have not in the least deserved to lose her affection. However, if a new inamorato fills her thoughts, it is idle for me to yelp. Jealousy is a fool's failing. But I must work or I shall be wicked!”
He departed and Brendon joined Albert Redmayne, to find the old man had grown uneasy and fearful.
”I am not happy, Brendon,” he said. ”There is coming into my mind a cloud--a premonition that very dreadful disasters are going to happen to those I love. When does Ganns return?”
”Soon after dark, Mr. Redmayne. Perhaps about nine o'clock we may expect him. Be patient a little longer.”
”It has not happened to me to feel as I do to-day,” answered the book lover. ”A sense of ill darkens my mind--a suspicion of finality, and Jenny shares it. Something is amiss. She has a presentiment that it is so. It may be, as she suspects, that my second self is not happy either. Virgilio and I are as twins. We have become strangely and psychologically linked together. I am sure that he is uneasy on my account at this moment. I am almost inclined to send Ernesto to see if all be well with him and report that all is well with me.”
He rambled on and presently went out upon his balcony and looked across to Bellagio. Then he appeared to forget Signor Poggi for a time and presently ate a little of the store of food brought back in secret by Mr. Ganns on the previous night.
”It is a grief to me,” he said again, ”that Peter fears treachery under this roof. Surely G.o.d is all powerful and would not suffer my interesting and harmless life to be s.n.a.t.c.hed away from me by poison?
I shall be very thankful when Peter leaves his horrid profession and retires and devotes his n.o.ble intellect to purer thoughts.”
”What became of the soup, Mr. Redmayne?”
”'Grillo' drank every drop and, having done so, my beautiful cat purred a grace after meat, according to his custom, then sank into peaceful slumber.”
Mark looked at the great blue Persian, who was evidently sleeping in perfect comfort. It woke to his touch, yawned, spread its paws, purred gently and then tucked itself up again.
”He's right enough.”
”Of course. Jenny tells me that her husband returns to Turin to-morrow. She, however, will stop here with me for the present. It may be well if they separate for a while.”
They talked and smoked, while Mr. Redmayne became reminiscent and amused himself with memories of the past. He forgot his present disquiet amid these recollections and chatted amiably of his earliest days in Australia and his subsequent, successful career as a bookseller and dealer.
Jenny presently joined them and all entered the dining-room together, where tea was served.
”He will be going out soon now,” whispered Albert's niece to Brendon; and he knew that she referred to her husband. Mr. Redmayne still declined to eat or drink.
”I did both to excess yesterday,” he said, ”and must rest my ill-used stomach until to-morrow.”
He was chiefly concerned with Doria and had prepared for him various messages to bookmen in Turin. They sat long and the shadows were lengthening before the old man returned to his apartments. Then Giuseppe made a final and humorous appeal to Mark to influence Jenny in favour of the automobiles and presently lit one of his Tuscan cigars, took his hat and left the house.
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