Even the female Mainwarings had no eyes for any one else when Connie Carmyle entered a room.
During the melee of greetings and embraces which ensued, Mr. Rylands, blessing the small deity who had descended to his aid, found time to right a capsized plum-cake and restore four highly-speckled cylinders of bread and b.u.t.ter to the plate on the bottom storey of the cake-stand.
He even succeeded in grinding a hopelessly leaky chocolate _eclair_ into the woolly hearthrug with his heel. By the time that the Mainwarings had removed their visitor"s furs and escorted her to the fireplace, no trace of the outrage remained. The undetected criminal sat nervously upon the edge of an _art nouveau_ milking-stool in the chimney-corner, waiting to be introduced.
"This is Mr. Rylands, Connie," announced Lady Adela. "Mrs. Carmyle."
"How do you do, Mr. Rylands?" said Connie, holding out her hand with a friendly smile.
Mr. Rylands, with an overfull teacup in one hand and a tiny plate entirely obscured by an enormous bun in the other, rose cautiously to his feet, and bestowing a sickly smile upon Mrs. Carmyle, entered at once upon a series of perilous feats of legerdemain with a view to getting a hand free.
"Let me hold your cup for you," suggested Connie kindly. "That"s better!"
The curate, gratefully adopting this expedient, ultimately succeeded in wringing his benefactress by the hand.
"What has the Archdeacon been up to lately?" enquired Connie, gently ma.s.saging her fingers.
The curate"s face brightened.
"It is curious that you should mention the Archdeacon"s name," he said.
"The fact is, I have just come _from_ the Arch--"
"Constance dear," enquired Lady Adela in trumpet tones, "did you see anything of d.i.c.k on your way down?"
"No, Lady Adela," said Connie, extending a slim foot towards the blazing logs. ("Mr. Rylands, would you mind bringing me one of those little cakes? No, not those--the indigestible-looking ones. Thank you so much!) Are you expecting him for the week-end?"
"Yes, but I am afraid there is a little disappointment in store for him.
I invited Norah Puncheon down--a sweet girl, Constance!--but at the last moment she has had to go to bed with one of her throats."
"Poor thing!" murmured Mrs. Carmyle absently. The reason for her own invitation--by telegraph--had just been made apparent to her.
"So perhaps you would not mind keeping d.i.c.k amused," concluded Lady Adela. "You and he used to be such particular friends," she added archly.
"Bow-_wow_!" observed Mrs. Carmyle dreamily into Mr. Rylands"s left ear.
The curate choked, then glowed with gentle gratification. He realised that he had come face to face at last with one of the Smart Set, of which one heard so much nowadays.
"The naughty boy," concluded the fond mother, "must have missed his train."
"The naughty boy," replied Mrs. Carmyle, "is probably coming down by the four-fifteen. It is a much better train. Mr. Rylands, will you please choose me a nice heavy crumpet?"
"In that case," said Lady Adela, "he will probably be here in about half an hour. Sylvia dear, will you go upstairs and see if Constance"s room is ready? I forgot to give orders about a fire."
Sylvia obediently disappeared, and Lady Adela crossed the hall to a chair under a lamp, where her husband was furtively perusing the evening paper. Mr. Mainwaring was now favoured with a brief but masterly display of the fast dying art of pantomime, from which he gathered without any difficulty whatever that he was to remove himself and Mr.
Rylands to another part of the house, and that right speedily.
Mr. Mainwaring coughed submissively, and rose.
"Mr. Rylands, will you come and smoke a cigarette with me?" he said.
"Second Chronicles?" remarked Connie"s clear voice. "I shall look it up during the sermon to-morrow." The Archdeacon"s emissary had unburdened his soul at last.
Lady Adela extended a stately hand. "Good-bye, Mr. Rylands," she said.
"My husband insists on carrying you off to the smoking-room."
Mr. Rylands, by this time hopelessly enmeshed in Connie Carmyle"s net, sprang guiltily to his feet.
"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he exclaimed. "Good-bye! Good-bye, Mrs.
Carmyle!"
He shook hands, gathered together his impedimenta, and hurried blindly up the staircase.
"Remember I am coming to hear you preach to-morrow," Connie called after him, with a dazzling smile. "Morning or evening?"
The G.o.dly but mesmerised youth halted, and broke out afresh. "I am preaching at Evensong," he began, "but--"
"This way, Mr. Rylands," said Lady Adela patiently, indicating her husband, who was standing by a swing door at the opposite side of the hall.
Mr. Rylands, utterly confounded, pattered headlong downstairs again, and disappeared with Mr. Mainwaring, still apologising.
Lady Adela tapped Connie playfully but heavily upon the cheek. ("_Like being tickled by a mastodon_" wrote that lady to her husband a short time later.)
"Constance dear," she said, with a reproving smile, "you are incorrigible. Now let us sit down and have a cosy chat."
The incorrigible one sat submissively down upon the sofa and waited.
She knew that her hostess had not rendered the hall a solitude for nothing.
Presently the cosy chat began. Not too suddenly, though. Lady Adela first enquired after the health of Mr. Carmyle, and expressed regret that he had been prevented from accompanying his wife to The Towers.
"He was sent for about his wretched ca.n.a.l," explained Connie. "But he saw me off at Waterloo, and promised to come down on Monday if he could get away."
"Is it the first time you have been parted?" asked Lady Adela.
"Yes," said Connie, in quite a small voice.
Her hostess, suddenly human, patted her hand.
"The time will soon pa.s.s, dear," she said. "You will find this house quiet but soothing. I like it much better than town myself. Mr.
Mainwaring is no trouble, and things are so cheap. The only drawback is Sylvia. She dislikes the people about here."
"By the way," enquired Connie, recovering her spirits, "what is Sylvia"s exact _line_ just at present? Last year it was slumming; the year before it was poker-work, and the year before that it was Christian Science. What does that sage-green gown mean? Don"t tell me she has become a Futurist, or a Post-Impressionist, or anything!"
"I never attempt," replied Lady Adela, closing her eyes resignedly, "to cope with Sylvia"s hobbies. At present she is a Socialist of some kind.
She is evolving a scheme, I believe, under which the ma.s.ses and cla.s.ses are to intermarry for the next twenty years. By that time, she considers, social distinctions will have ceased to exist, and consequently the social problem will have solved itself."
Mrs. Carmyle nodded her head comprehendingly.
"I see," she said, "it sounds a good idea. I shall start looking out in the "Morning Post" for the announcement of Sylvia"s engagement to a plumber. Just half a cup more, please."