Part 10 (2/2)

It was evident that some mute coloquy pa.s.sed between the husband and wife--disapproval on his part, attempt to a.s.sert authority, defiance, on hers. Then the fair-skinned English face, confronting Daphne, wavered and weakened, and Roger smiled into the eyes transfixing him.

”Ah!” thought Lelius, ”she has him, de poor fool!”

Roger, coming over to his mother, began a murmured conversation. Daphne, still breathing quick, consented to talk to Dr. Lelius and Mrs. French.

Lelius, who travelled widely, had brought her news of some pictures in a chateau of the Bourbonnais--pictures that her whole mind was set on acquiring. Elsie French noticed the _expertise_ of her talk; the intellectual development it implied; the pa.s.sion of will which accompanied it. ”To the dollar, all things are possible”--one might have phrased it so.

The soft September air came in through the open windows, from a garden flooded with western sun. Suddenly through the subdued talk which filled the drawing-room--each group in it avoiding the other--the sound of a motor arriving made itself heard.

”Heavens! who on earth knows we're here?” said Barnes, looking up.

For they had only been camping a week in the house, far too busy to think of neighbours. They sat expectant and annoyed, reproaching each other with not having told the butler to say ”Not at home.” Lady Barnes's att.i.tude had in it something else--a little anxiety; but it escaped notice. Steps came through the hall, and the butler, throwing open the door, announced--

”Mrs. Fairmile.”

Roger Barnes sprang to his feet. His mother, with a little gasp, caught him by the arm instinctively. There was a general rise and a movement of confusion, till the new-comer, advancing, offered her hand to Daphne.

”I am afraid, Mrs. Barnes, I am disturbing you all. The butler told me you had only been here a few days. But Lady Barnes and your husband are such old friends of mine that, as soon as I heard--through our old postmistress, I think--that you had arrived, I thought I might venture.”

The charming voice dropped, and the speaker waited, smiling, her eyes fixed on Daphne. Daphne had taken her hand in some bewilderment, and was now looking at her husband for a.s.sistance. It was clear to Elsie French, in the background, that Daphne neither knew the lady nor the lady's name, and that the visit had taken her entirely by surprise.

Barnes recovered himself quickly. ”I had no idea you were in these parts,” he said, as he brought a chair forward for the visitor, and stood beside her a moment.

Lady Barnes, observing him, as she stiffly greeted the new-comer--his cool manner, his deepened colour--felt the usual throb of maternal pride in him, intensified by alarm and excitement.

”Oh, I am staying a day or two with d.u.c.h.ess Mary,” said the new-comer.

”She is a little older--and no less gouty, poor dear, than she used to be. Mrs. Barnes, I have heard a great deal of you--though you mayn't know anything about me. Ah! Dr. Lelius?”

The German, bowing awkwardly, yet radiant, came forward to take the hand extended to him.

”They did nothing but talk about you at the Louvre, when I was there last week,” she said, with a little confidential nod. ”You have made them horribly uncomfortable about some of their things. Isn't it a pity to know too much?”

She turned toward Daphne. ”I'm afraid that's your case too.” She smiled, and the smile lit up a face full of delicate lines and wrinkles, which no effort had been made to disguise; a tired face, where the eyes spoke from caverns of shade, yet with the most appealing and persuasive beauty.

”Do you mean about pictures?” said Daphne, a little coldly. ”I don't know as much as Dr. Lelius.”

Humour leaped into the eyes fixed upon her; but Mrs. Fairmile only said: ”That's not given to the rest of us mortals. But after all, _having's_ better than knowing. Don't--_don't_ you possess the Vitali Signorelli?”

Her voice was most musical and flattering. Daphne smiled in spite of herself. ”Yes, we do. It's in London now--waiting till we can find a place for it.”

”You must let me make a pilgrimage--when it comes. But you know you'd find a number of things at Upcott--where I'm staying now--that would interest you. I forget whether you've met the d.u.c.h.ess?”

”This is our first week here,” said Roger, interposing. ”The house has been let till now. We came down to see what could be made of it.”

His tone was only just civil. His mother, looking on, said to herself that he was angry--and with good reason.

But Mrs. Fairmile still smiled.

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