"Will you chaperon me into the ring, please?" she asked of me politely.
I stopped short and gazed at her.
"Do you mean to tell me," I said, "that you have won again?"
Miss Damer nodded brightly.
"Yes," she said.
"You backed Malvolio--that outsider?"
Miss Damer smiled seraphically. "Yes."
"And where did you get the tip this time?" I enquired.
"I asked the bookmaker," replied Miss Damer simply. "I thought he would know."
"And he gave you Malvolio?"
"Yes. I had thought of backing the favourite, but he would n"t let me.
He said Malvolio was "a real snip," but very few people knew about him.
He was a kind man. Come and help me to find him."
We duly discovered her altruistic friend, who smiled at me over his client"s head in a resigned and humorous fashion, as if to imply that there are occasions upon which Homer may be excused from nodding. "If this be Vanity," his expression seemed to ask, "who would be wise?"
Who, indeed?
Of all Constance Damer"s achievements in the matter of unduly influencing her fellow-creatures, I hold--and always have held--that this was the greatest. I have been present at many of her triumphs. I have seen her tackle a half-drunken ruffian who was ill-treating his wife, not merely subjugating him, but sending the pair away reconciled and arm-in-arm; I have seen her compel crusty and avaricious old gentlemen to pay not only largely, but cheerfully, for bazaar-goods for which they could have had no possible use, and the very purchase of which implicated them in the furtherance of a scheme of which they heartily disapproved; and I have seen her soothe a delirious child into peaceful slumber by the mere magic of her touch and voice. But to interrupt a hard-working, unsentimental, starting-price bookmaker at the busiest moment of his day, for the purpose of eliciting from him information as to the right horse to back, and to receive from him--a man whose very living depends upon your backing the wrong one--not merely reliable but exclusive information, strikes me as a record even for Miss Constance Damer.
Presently d.i.c.ky rejoined us.
"Collected your winnings?" I enquired.
"Yes--and handed them over. There are only two runners in the next race. Come and have a look at the merry-go-rounds. I know you love them, Connie."
Miss Damer admitted the correctness of this statement, but declined to come.
"I see Lady Adela over there," she said--"all alone. That"s not fair.
She has a new toque on, too, poor thing! I will go and take her for a walk round the enclosure. You two can come back presently and give us tea. If you discover anything really exciting in the way of side-shows I will come and see it before the last race."
She flitted away. Two minutes later we saw her, looking like a neat little yacht going for a walk with a Dreadnought, carefully convoying Lady Adela across the course into the enclosure.
"What about Miss Beverley and the others, Freak?" I asked, as we turned away.
"Oh, they are all right," said d.i.c.ky shortly. "Leave them alone for a bit longer."
From which I gathered that Miss Beverley was still suffering from what is known in nursery circles as "a little black dog on her back."
A large section of the crowd evidently shared our opinion that the next race would be a tame affair, for the merry-go-rounds and other appurtenances of the meeting were enjoying abundant patronage as we approached. We pa.s.sed slowly along the fairway, where hoa.r.s.e persons implored us, _inter alia_, to be photographed, win cocoanuts, and indulge in three rounds under Queensberry Rules with "The Houndsditch Terror."
d.i.c.ky, suddenly throwing off his low spirits, won two cocoanuts; insisted upon being photographed with me upon the beach of a _papier-mache_ ocean, and, although he drew the line at The Houndsditch Terror, submitted his palm to an unclean and voluble old lady who desired to tell his fortune.
He was cautioned by the beldame against a fair man with a black heart--"That"s you, old son!" he remarked affectionately to me--and received warning of impending trouble with a dark lady. ("Thanks; I know all about that," he a.s.sured her feelingly.) On the other hand, he was promised two letters, a journey across the ocean, and a quant.i.ty of gold--precise amount not specified--within a short period of time.
"You have a very peculiar nature," was the next announcement. "You have paid attention to many ladies, but you have never really loved any of them. Your heart--"
"I beg your pardon; I have loved them all!" replied The Freak emphatically.
"Don"t be angry with Gipsy, pretty gentleman!" pleaded the aged Sibyl.
"Gipsy knows best. Gipsy only says what she reads in the hand. So--but what is this?" She bent closer. "Ah! Very soon, sir, you will meet the lady of your dreams, and you will love her as you have never loved before."
"No, really?" exclaimed d.i.c.ky, deeply interested. "Tell me, shall I marry her?"
"Many difficulties and obstacles will be placed in your path," chanted the prophetess. "You will be misunderstood; you will have to deal with peculiar people. Many times you will be tempted to give up in despair.
But persevere, and you will triumph in the end. Now, gentleman, cross Gipsy"s palm with silver--"
Here high prophetic frenzy tailed off into unabashed mendicancy, and the interview dropped to a purely commercial level. My attention wandered.
Not far away a ring of people had collected round some fresh object of interest. I could hear the sound of a woman"s voice singing, and the thrumming of a harp. I could even distinguish the air. A fresh number was just beginning. It was "Annie Laurie"--the most beautiful love-song, in my humble opinion, ever written.
"Maxwellton"s braes are bonny, Where early falls the dew--"
Then the voice quavered and ceased, and I found myself wondering what had happened.
"And now, would the other handsome gentleman like to show his palm to Gipsy?" enquired an ingratiating croak at my side.
Realising with difficulty that I was the individual referred to, I turned, to find that our aged friend, having satisfactorily arranged d.i.c.ky"s future, was now soliciting my patronage.
"No, thanks," I replied. "Come and see what is going on over there, Freak."
"Ah, but Gipsy will tell the gentleman _all_," promised the old lady.
"He has a wicked eye," she added, alluringly but incorrectly.
We escaped at last, at a price, and presently found ourselves upon the outskirts of the little crowd which I have already mentioned.
"What is going on inside here?" enquired d.i.c.ky of his nearest neighbour.
"Gel singin" to the "arp," replied the gentleman addressed. He supplemented this information by adding that the lady was no cla.s.s, and had a nasty cough.
He was right. As he spoke, the voice of the singer broke again, and we could hear the sound of a spasm of coughing.
We elbowed our way into the crowd, which had grown with the easy facility of all race-course crowds into quite an a.s.semblage; and presently found ourselves in the inmost ring of spectators.
In the centre of the ring sat an old man on a camp-stool, cuddling a big battered harp to his shoulder. Beside him stood a tall tired-looking woman, very handsome in a tawdry fashion, of about thirty-five. She was dressed as a Pierrette. Her right hand rested upon the old man"s shoulder, her left was pressed hard against her chest. She was coughing violently, and her accompanist"s hands lay patiently idle in his lap until she should be ready to continue. On the gra.s.s beside the old man sat a hollow-eyed little boy, also in regulation Pierrot costume.
I heard d.i.c.ky draw his breath sharply. Don Quixote was astir again.
Presently the singer recovered, stood bravely erect, and prepared herself for another effort. The old man"s hands swept over the strings, and the harp emitted a gentle arpeggio.