Part 48 (1/2)
There was a finality about Penelope's words which left no room for further discussion. The little group was broken up. She and Lady Grace went to their rooms together.
”Penelope, you're a dear!” the latter said, as they mounted the stairs.
”I am afraid you've made Charlie very angry, though.”
”I hope I have,” Penelope answered. ”I meant to make him angry. I think that such self-sufficiency is absolutely stifling. It makes me sometimes almost loathe young Englishmen of his cla.s.s.”
”And you don't dislike the Prince so much nowadays?” Lady Grace remarked with transparent indifference.
”No!” Penelope answered. ”That is finished. I misunderstood him at first. It was entirely my own fault. I was prejudiced, and I hated to feel that I was in the wrong. I do not see how any one could dislike him unless they were enemies of his country. Then I fancy that they might have cause.”
Lady Grace sighed.
”To tell you the truth, Penelope,” she said, ”I almost wish that he were not quite so devotedly attached to his country.”
Penelope was silent. They had reached Lady Grace's room now, and were standing together on the hearthrug in front of the fire.
”I am afraid he is like that,” Penelope said gently. ”He seems to have none of the ordinary weaknesses of men. I, too, wish sometimes that he were a little different. One would like to think of him, for his own sake, as being happy some day. He reminds me somehow of the men who build and build, toiling always through youth unto old age. There seems no limit to their strength, nor any respite. They build a palace which those who come after them must inhabit.”
Once more Lady Grace sighed. She was looking into the heart of the fire.
Penelope took her hands.
”It is hard sometimes, dear,” she said, ”to realize that a thing is impossible, that it is absolutely out of our reach. Yet it is better to bring one's mind to it than to suffer all the days.”
Lady Grace looked up. At that moment she was more than pretty. Her eyes were soft and bright, the color had flooded her cheeks.
”But I don't see _why_ it should be impossible, Penelope,” she protested. ”We are equals in every way. Alliances between our two countries are greatly to be desired. I have heard my father say so, and Mr. Haviland. The trouble is, Pen,” she added with trembling lips, ”that he does not care for me.”
”You cannot tell,” Penelope answered. ”He has never shown any signs of caring for any woman. Remember, though, that he would want you to live in j.a.pan.”
”I'd live in Thibet if he asked me to,” Lady Grace declared, raising her handkerchief to her eyes, ”but he never will. He doesn't care. He doesn't understand. I am very foolish, Penelope.”
Penelope kissed her gently.
”Dear,” she said, ”you are not the only foolish woman in the world.”...
Conversation amongst the younger members of the house-party at Devenham Castle was a little disjointed that evening. Perhaps Penelope, who came down in a wonderful black velveteen gown, with a bunch of scarlet roses in her corsage, was the only one who seemed successfully to ignore the pa.s.sage of arms which had taken place so short a while ago. She talked pleasantly to Somerfield, who tried to be dignified and succeeded only in remaining sulky. Chance had placed her at some distance from the Prince, to whom Lady Grace was talking with a subdued softness in her manner which puzzled Captain Wilmot, her neighbor on the other side.
”I saw you with all the evening papers as usual, Bransome,” the Prime Minister remarked during the service of dinner. ”Was there any news?”
”Nothing much,” the Foreign Secretary replied. ”Consuls are down another point and the Daily Comet says that you are like a drowning man clinging to the raft of your majority. Excellent cartoon of you, by the bye. You shall see it after dinner.”
”Thank you,” the Prime Minister said. ”Was there anything about you in the same paper by any chance?”
”Nothing particularly abusive,” Sir Edward answered blandly. ”By the bye, the police declare that they have a definite clue this time, and are going to arrest the murderer of Hamilton Fynes and poor d.i.c.ky Vanderpole tonight or tomorrow.”
”Excellent!” the Duke declared. ”It would have been a perfect disgrace to our police system to have left two such crimes undetected. Our respected friend at the Home Office will have a little peace now.”
”How about me?” Bransome grumbled. ”Haven't I been worried to death, too?”