Part 54 (2/2)
Her nephew laughed aloud. In spite of himself there came over him in a flash the memory of the day nearly ten years ago when she sat on the side of his miserable little bed in his miserable little room in New York and took from him as a loan--which she never meant to pay back--all the money he had in the world. He put his hands in his pockets.
”Has your husband any financial difficulties?”
”My husband knows nothing about it,” she said serenely. ”You don't suppose I could tell him, do you? I must have five thousand francs, dear Tony, before to-morrow.”
Tony said lightly, ”I am afraid economy is not your strong point.”
”Tony,” she exclaimed reproachfully, ”I am a wonderful manager; I can make a franc go further than my husband can a louis, and I have a real gift for bargains. Think of it! I only had one hundred dollars a month to dress myself and Bella and poor little Gardiner, and for all my little expenses.” The children's names on her lips seemed sacrilege to him. He did not wish her to speak those sacred names, or destroy his sacred past, whose charm and tenderness persisted over all the suffering and which nothing could destroy. ”I have been buying a quant.i.ty of old Chinese paintings--a great bargain; in ten years they will be worth double the money. You must come and see them. The dealer will deliver them to-morrow.”
”History,” Antony thought, ”how it repeats itself!”
Caroline Potowski leaned toward her nephew persuasively, and even in the softened twilight he saw the weakness and the caprices of her pretty face, and he pitied Potowski.
”I must have five thousand francs before to-morrow,” said his aunt, ”otherwise these dealers will make me trouble.”
Fairfax laughed again. With a touch of bitterness he said--
”And I must have an income of five times as much as that a year--ten times as much as that a year--unless I wish to feel degraded because I am a poor labourer.”
The comtesse did not reply to this. As she did not, Fairfax saw the humour of it.
”You do not really think I could give you five thousand francs, auntie?”
”I know you haven't a great deal of money, dear boy----”
”Not a great deal, auntie.”
”But you seem to have such a lot of time to spend to amuse yourself.”
He nodded. ”So I seem to have.”
The comtesse looked at him a little askance. ”You are going to make such a brilliant marriage. Mrs. Faversham is so fearfully rich.”
Fairfax exclaimed, but shut down on the words that came to his lips. He realized that his aunt was a toy woman, utterly irresponsible, a pretty fool. He said simply--
”You had better frankly tell your husband.”
She swung her parasol to and fro. ”You think so, Tony?”
”Decidedly.”
”And you couldn't possibly manage, Tony?”
Tony pointed to his studies. ”These are my only a.s.sets; these are my finances, auntie. I shall have to sell something to live on--if I am so lucky as to be able to find a customer.”
”If I could give the dealer a thousand francs to-morrow I think he would wait,” said his aunt.
Tony shook his head. ”I wish I were a millionaire for five minutes, Aunt Caroline.”
<script>