Part 27 (1/2)
All the party were a.s.sembled in the great drawing-room when this duty was done, and so her entrance did not pa.s.s unremarked.
”By Jove!” was the significant exclamation of old Colonel Hawthorne.
”And I am to have the pleasure of taking you in to dinner,” said the charming young man who had so far succeeded in diverting Lady Beatrice.
Gerard Strobridge felt a strange sensation as he looked at Katherine presently, between the great bowls of camellias--there was no comparison with anyone at the table; Her Ladys.h.i.+p's secretary had blossomed forth into the beauty of the night.
”How clothes can alter a person!” Mrs. Delemar said without conscious spite--dependents, even pretty ones, were not things which counted.--”Look, G.--dear Sarah's typist appears quite pretty to-night, and how kind she is to her servants; see, she has let the girl have those beautiful lilies of the valley which Hawke told me to-day when you were making him give me the orchids, it just breaks his heart to have to cut!”
CHAPTER XV
The sudden accession to beauty in Lady Garribardine's secretary had a double--nay, treble--result! It caused Mr. Victor Thistlethwaite plainly to show that he perceived it at dinner, and thereby considerably to annoy both the Lady Beatrice and Mr. Gerard Strobridge during that meal!
Lady Beatrice considered it impertinence on the part of Miss Bush and Mr. Strobridge found it ”ridiculous cheek of that insufferable puppy Thistlethwaite.”
Katherine for her part enjoyed herself! She had got over the awe of servants--and the strangeness of well-bred companions--She was now sure of the methods of eating, too, and so had leisure to enjoy conversation and she was filled with that delicious sovereign complacency which only a woman discovering that she is undeniably a success can know.
While remaining exceedingly demure, she managed to arrest the exclusive attention of her partner for the feast, and Lady Garribardine watched the whole thing with a whimsical eye.
Gerard Strobridge was too good a diplomat to allow the vaguest trace of his disturbed equilibrium to show in his face, and talked to Lao with renewed pa.s.sion, so that before they began to pull crackers she was feeling perfectly contented in the certain conviction that it was Beatrice's presence alone which kept him within bounds! He had not made love to women ever since he left Eton, or served his country at the Foreign Office until the age of thirty-five, without acquiring a certain experience in feminine psychology, and a knowledge as to the best manipulation of diplomatic situations, and even though he had been irritated by Mr. Thistlethwaite's evident admiration, he saw that it would certainly cause Beatrice to stay until the Sat.u.r.day, and so in it there lay good.
There were quant.i.ties of silver charms in the blazing plum-pudding, and some received omens of wealth, and some of princely mates or lengthy journeys, but Gerard Strobridge could only secure the emblem of an old maid--a thimble was his portion--and he turned the unhappy augury to much good account in a suitable reproach to Lao.
When the caps from the crackers were put on, an early English gold paper crown fell to Katherine's share, and became her mightily.
”Why, Miss Bush looks just like Queen Victoria when she came to the throne, Grandmamma!” called out the elder girl grandchild. ”We have her picture on the nursery screen.”
”And I wonder what her end will be,” Gerard Strobridge thought; ”she looks remarkably well in a crown.”
The hall had been cleared for dancing and when the excitement in opening the wonderful little presents which lay hidden in a rose by each person's plate was over, the company poured in there, while three local musicians struck up a merry tune. It was a two-step and Miss Betty d'Estaire must try it with some new variations which were just coming in from America at that date (it was before tango days). Katherine was an adept in them, for was not Bindon's Green always in the forefront of modernity? And any kind of dancing she really loved. It was the one pastime of her sisters which she had shared with delight, and often practised with Ethel in their tiny drawing-room before going to bed.
Mr. Thistlethwaite asked her for a turn with him, and they started off.
”It is much better than a stupid old valse, isn't it?” he said to her while they careered smoothly ahead. ”And by Jove! how well you dance!”
The blood was rus.h.i.+ng in Katherine's veins; it was so good to be young and admired, and forgetful of relative positions for once in a way. She knew very well that she was a far finer performer than the other young girl, and all that was sensuous in her nature came uppermost and quivered through the rhythmic movements of her supple body. Gerard Strobridge watched her silently. He was conscious of profound and increasing emotion; it was as if some primitive, strong, vital thing was there before him, dwarfing the puny make-believes at pa.s.sion which were so well a.s.sumed by Lao Delemar. She was standing beside him looking as beautiful and as artificial as the orchids in her dress.
”How that girl could love!” he breathed to himself as he watched the dancers, and Lao seemed as utterly meaningless as a wax doll!
Once was enough of this sort of thing, Katherine Bush thought; she was keenly alive to atmospheres and she felt that for a secretary to do more than show that she was proficient in these steps would be a breach of taste. So no persuasions of her partner would move her after the first few rounds, and she left him and went off with the youngest grandchild in a polka step.
Thus the Lady Beatrice recovered her whilom admirer, and when another tune had begun and Lao had been safely lured into the arms of the distant cousin, Gerard Strobridge came over casually to where Katherine stood.
”Am I to be allowed a turn of this old-fas.h.i.+oned valse, Miss Bush?” he asked.
But Katherine was not to be beguiled so easily--she must parley first!
”I do not know if her Ladys.h.i.+p expects me to dance any more,” she answered. ”If you think she will not mind my accepting this honour, I shall be very pleased.”