"Eggs?" echoed Lady Hartley.
"Yes; I collect birds" eggs." She picked up the newspaper and let her eye wander along the items in the Court Circular. "But getting up early makes me homesick. The best time of my life was when I was a kid, when I hadn"t an idea beyond the woods on the old Ma.s.sachusetts farm, when popper kept his store, and--Oh!"
She had reached the fatal announcement, and sat with parted lips, rigid as stone, while the world seemed toppling about her ears. There was a long pause. Jeannette"s lips gradually tightened, and her firm hand crumpled up the paper.
"Mommer!" she exclaimed. "Here, Mommer!" But Mrs. Urmy and Lady Hartley had beaten a diplomatic retreat. Jeannette jumped to her feet, the color flaming in her face, her eyes snapping with indignation. "Oh!" she cried, impotently. "I"ll--I"ll--oh! what can I do? It must come out! He must apologize. Who did it? Oh, I don"t even know him, the--wretch!"
The "chuff-chuff" of a motor-car coming up the drive interrupted her outburst, and she looked up to see it being driven up and halted before the entrance. Lady Hartley had a perfect fleet of cars. Jeannette at once jumped to the conclusion that this was one of them. She had a sudden inspiration. It was running free--ready to start. There was temptation in the soft purr of its engine. The driver, quietly dressed, but not in livery, she appraised as one of Lady Hartley"s motor-men.
"Shall I?" she whispered. "Dare I? I can set things straight at once if I do. Persis will be wild with me for going off without a word, but I"ll--I"ll chance it!"
She ran into the hall, slipped into her motoring coat, and, throwing discretion to the winds, walked out to the front of the house and quickly up to the car.
"How soon can you drive me to Sapworth Hall?" she asked, getting in and pulling the rug around her.
The barefaced appropriation of his car by an unknown young woman almost took Lord Chilminster"s breath away. He had, at much inconvenience to himself, motored all the way to Lady Hartley"s to contradict and sift an amazing and annoying report that he had discovered in the _Morning Post_. He had heard Lady Hartley mention the name of Urmy as that of a friend of hers, and naturally decided that she was the proper person to consult. But before he had time to get out of his car and ring the bell here was a young person, springing from goodness knows where, mistaking him for a motor-man, and ordering him about. For a moment he was speechless. Then, as the humor of the situation began to appeal to him, so did the good looks of the girl.
"Really," he began. "You see I----"
"Don"t talk, get under way!" commanded Jeannette. "Quick! Her ladyship has altered her mind about going out. You"ve got to take me to Sapworth Hall. It"s thirty miles. I want to be there by lunch-time. Do you know the way?"
"I--I think so," stammered Chilminster.
Her bewildering eagerness to be off was infectious. The n.o.ble owner of the car felt it. But apart from that, he was quite ready for an adventure in such pleasant company. He forgot all about the object of his visit. Without another word he let in the clutch and started.
Jeannette sank back with a sigh of relief. She credited herself with having secured Persis"s car very neatly. The man might, perhaps, get into trouble, but she could make that up to him by a generous tip. Her one idea was to contradict and confute the disgraceful announcement at its fountain-head. It was providential that the unknown Lord Chilminster"s place was so near; but had it been ten times as far off, Jeannette, boiling with justifiable indignation, and with her mind made up to exact reparation, would have gone there.
"It"s awful! It"s unheard of! I--I won"t have it! Who can have done it?"
she kept repeating through white teeth set viciously. "I"ll have it contradicted in large print by this time to-morrow, or the American Amba.s.sador shall----"
She was not quite sure what amba.s.sadors did under similar circ.u.mstances, and she left the mental threat unfinished. Anyhow, it was a disgrace to herself, and her s.e.x, if not a slight on her country, and it redoubled her determination to "get even" with the perpetrator of it. She leaned forward to make herself heard.
"Set a killing pace," she called. "I"ll make it up to you."
Chilminster nodded, hid a smile, and let the car out to the top of its speed. It ate up mile after mile; and as it came to Jeannette that each one brought her nearer and nearer to the hateful person whose name had been so scandalously bracketed with her own, she experienced a feeling of nervousness. The boldness of her escapade began to alarm her. What should she say? How express in words her view of an intolerable situation which no self-respecting girl could even calmly think about?
Lord Chilminster"s mind was almost similarly engaged. He was wondering who Miss Jeannette L. Urmy could be, and whether she was aware of the obnoxious paragraph in the paper. He did not do her the injustice to suppose that she had inspired it (he had an open mind on that point), but as he was not responsible for it himself, he had a suspicion that she might be. Chilminster had met very few unmarried American girls, but like most Englishmen, he was aware of their capacity for resolution in most matters. Then, again, it was leap year. Suppose---- For a little while he did a lot of hard thinking.
"I say," he called suddenly, looking over his shoulder. "Isn"t there a Miss Urmy staying at the White House?"
Jeannette drew herself up and fixed him with a stony stare.
"I am Miss Urmy," she answered frigidly.
The start that Chilminster gave unconsciously affected the steering-wheel, and the car swerved sharply.
"What are you doing? You"re driving disgracefully!" exclaimed Jeannette.
"I--I beg your pardon," faltered Chilminster. "I thought you were her lady"s maid."
He felt he owed her that one. A girl who could announce her approaching marriage with a stranger (Chilminster no longer gave her the benefit of the doubt) and follow up that glaring indiscretion by a visit to her victim, was---- The imminence of such a thing alarmed him. Was she coming to propose--to molest him? He got hot thinking of it.
The situation had undergone a complete change since he had started out in a rage, and some trepidation, to confront Miss Urmy herself, if need be. Now trepidation over-balanced all his other emotions. Miss Urmy was behind him, in his own automobile, and he was meekly driving her at a cracking speed to his own house! It was too late to turn back now. The thing had to be seen through. Besides, he could not help feeling a curiosity to know what was in his pa.s.senger"s mind, and to discover her bewildering plan of action.
Neither spoke for the rest of the journey, and at length the car pa.s.sed through the lodge gates, swept up the drive, and stopped at the entrance to Sapworth Hall. Jeannette got out.
"You had better go round to the stables and ask for something to eat. I may be some time," was all she volunteered as she rang the bell.
Rather staggered by the order, but foreseeing a bad quarter of an hour ahead of him, Chilminster was glad of the respite. He opened the throttle and slid out of sight as Jeannette was admitted.
His lordship was out, the butler informed her. Then she would wait--wait all day, if necessary, she said decisively, following the man into the library. No, she was in no need of refreshment, but her _chauffeur_, who had gone round to the stables, might be glad of something in the servants" hall.
With a foot impatiently tapping the polished floor, she sat summoning up all her determination whilst awaiting the ordeal before her. For, by this time had come the inevitable reaction, and the sudden impulse that had made her act as she had seemed, somehow, out of relation to the motive that had inspired it. Not that she regretted having come: her self-respect demanded that sacrifice; but she wished the unpleasant affair over.
An intolerable ten minutes pa.s.sed. The beautiful seventeenth century room, like a reflection on the spirit of democracy, was getting on Jeannette"s nerves. The strain of listening, watching the big mahogany door for the expected entrance of Lord Chilminster, at last reduced her to a state of apathy, and when he did come quietly in she was taken by surprise.
"I"m so sorry to have kept you waiting," he said.
Jeannette stared. Bareheaded, gaiterless, minus his driving coat, very self-contained and eminently aristocratic, the supposed motor-man advanced into the room.
"You see, you told me to take the car round to the stables," he proceeded, with a touch of apology in his tone.
"You--you are the Earl of Chilminster?" she gasped.
"Of Sapworth Hall, Wilts," he augmented, like one who quotes. "And you are Miss Jeannette L. Urmy, of Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, I believe."
There was quite a long silence.
"You knew all along," she flushed angrily.
Chilminster raised a hand in protest. "Not until you told me."
"Then why didn"t you stop? You ought to have taken me back immediately you knew who I was."
"So I would have if----"
"You mean you didn"t believe me. You thought I was a lady"s maid!"
Jeannette interrupted indignantly.
"That was an error of judgment for which I humbly apologize. We are all liable to make mistakes sometimes. You, Miss Urmy, for instance, took me for a motor-man. You also appropriated my car, and commanded me to bring you here at a murderous--no, a killing pace. And I think you added that you would make it up to me."
Jeannette"s face tingled. She had come to accuse, and, instead, found herself patiently listening to a recital of her indiscretions. But if Lord Chilminster was a strategist, Jeannette was a tactician. She appreciated the danger of a pa.s.sive defense, and conversely, of the value of a vigorous aggression. Without a moment"s hesitation she began a counter attack.
"In to-day"s _Morning Post_----" she commenced.
"Ah, the _Morning Post_!" echoed Chilminster, also changing front.
"There was a disgraceful announcement."