"Really! I should have scarcely have thought--"
"There were two pieces of plum cake on the bill, and we only ate one."
"Oh, I"ve just remembered," said Miss Cronin, as if irradiated with sudden light.
"What, dear?"
"I _did_ have two slices. One was before the m.u.f.fin, while we were waiting for it, and the other was after. And I only remembered the second."
"In that case, dear, we"ve done the waiter an injustice and libelled the hotel."
"I will make it all right if you will allow me," said Braybrooke almost obsequiously. "I"m well known here. I will explain to the manager, a most charming man."
He turned definitely to face f.a.n.n.y Cronin.
"Miss Van Tuyn asked me to tell you what she wants."
"Indeed! Does she want something?"
"No. I mean she told me to ask you what you want."
Miss Cronin looked at Mrs. Clem Hodson, hesitated, and then made a very definite rabbit"s mouth.
"I don"t know that I want anything, thank you, Mr. Braybrooke. But if Beryl is going--she is not going?"
"I really don"t know exactly."
"She hasn"t finished her tea, perhaps?"
"I don"t know for certain. But she asked me to tell you she wasn"t coming back yet"--the two old ladies exchanged glances which Braybrooke longed to contradict--"as she is going to call on Lady Sellingworth presently."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Clem Hodson, gazing steadily at f.a.n.n.y Cronin.
"In Berkeley Square!" added Braybrooke emphatically. "And to-night she is dining out."
"Did she say where?" asked Miss Cronin, slightly moving her ears.
"No; she didn"t."
"Thank you," said Miss Cronin. "Good-bye, Mr. Braybrooke."
She held out her hand like one making a large and difficult concession to her own Christianity. Mrs. Clem Hodson bowed again from the waist and also made a concession. She muttered, "Very glad to have met you!" and then cleared her throat, while the criss-cross of wrinkles moved all over her face.
"I will make it all right with the manager," said Braybrooke, with over-anxious earnestness, and feeling now quite definitely that he must really have proposed to Miss Cronin for Miss Van Tuyn"s hand that afternoon, and that he must have just lied about the disposal of her time until she had to dress for dinner.
"The manager?" said Miss Cronin.
"What manager?" said Mrs. Clem Hodson.
"About the plum cake! Surely you remember?"
"Oh--the plum cake!" said Mrs. Hodson, looking steadily at f.a.n.n.y Cronin.
"Thank you very much indeed! Very good of you!"
"Thank you," said Miss Cronin, with a sudden piteous look. "I did eat two slices. Come, Suzanne! Good-bye again, Mr. Braybrooke."
They turned to go out. As Braybrooke watched the musquash slowly vanishing he knew in his bones that, when he did not become engaged to Miss Van Tuyn, f.a.n.n.y Cronin, till the day of her death, would feel positive that he had proposed to her that afternoon and had been rejected. And he muttered in his beard:
"d.a.m.n these red-headed old women! I will _not_ make it all right with the manager about the plum cake!"
It was a poor revenge, but the only one he could think of at the moment.
"Is anything the matter?" asked Miss Van Tuyn when he rejoined her. "Has old f.a.n.n.y been tiresome?"
"Oh, no--no! But old Fan--I beg your pardon, I mean Miss Cronin--Miss Cronin has a peculiar--but she is very charming. I gave her your message, and she quite understood. We were talking about plum cake. That is why I was so long."
"I see! A fascinating subject like that must be difficult to get away from."
"Yes--very! What a delightful woman Mrs. Hodson is."
"I think her extremely wearisome. Her nature is as wrinkled as her face.
And now I must be on my way to Adela Sellingworth"s."
"May I walk with you as far as her door?"
"Of course."
When they were out in Piccadilly he said:
"And now what about my promise to Mr. Craven?"
"I shall be delighted to meet him again," said Miss Van Tuyn in a careless voice. "And I would not have you break a promise on my account.
Such a sacred thing!"
"But if he bores you--"
"He doesn"t bore me more than many young men do."
"Then I will let you know. We might have a theatre party."
"Anything you like. And why not ask Adela Sellingworth to make a fourth?"
This suggestion was not at all to Braybrooke"s liking, but he scarcely knew what to say in answer to it. Really, it seemed as if this afternoon was to end as it had begun--in a contretemps.
"I am so fond of her," continued Miss Van Tuyn. "And I"m sure she would enjoy it."
"But she so seldom goes out."
"All the more reason to try to persuade her out of her sh.e.l.l. I believe she will come if you tell her I and Mr. Craven make up the rest of the party. We all got on so well together in Soho."