He frowned approval. He was pleased, but, like all those who make laughter, he had none of his own. "That shot told. I got him with the first barrel. Trust a boy to love a law-breaker. He"ll never forget me that. He"s my friend for life." He added, as if to himself, "Hope so, anyhow."
Lucy at this, had she been a cat, would have purred and kneaded the carpet. As it was, her contentment emboldened her to flights. She was much more bird than cat. "I wonder if you are really a law-breaker,"
she said. "I don"t think I should be surprised to know it of you."
He frowned again. "No, I should say that the ground had been prepared for that. You wouldn"t be surprised--but would you be disturbed?
That"s what I want to know before I tell you."
This had to be considered. What did she in her private mind think of law-breakers? One thing was quite clear to her. Whatever she might think of them, she was not prepared to tell him.
"I"m a lawyer"s wife, you know."
"That tells me nothing," he said. "That would only give you the position of an expert. It doesn"t commit you to a line. I"ll tell you this--it may encourage you to a similar confidence. If I wanted to break a law very badly, I shouldn"t do it on reflection perhaps; but I could never resist a sudden impulse. If somebody told me that it would be desirable in all sorts of ways to break a man"s head I shouldn"t do it, because I should be bothering myself with all the possibilities of the thing--how desirable it might be, or how undesirable. But if, happening to be in his company, I saw his head in a breakable aspect--splosh! I should land him a nasty one. That"s a certainty.
Now, what should you say to that? It happens that I want to know." It was evident to her that he really did.
Lucy gave him one of her kind, compa.s.sionate looks, which always made her seem beautiful, and said, "I should forgive you. I should tell you that you were too young for your years; but I should forgive you, I"m sure."
"That"s what I wanted to know," said Urquhart, and remained silent for a while. When he resumed it was abruptly, on a totally new matter. "I shall bring my sister over to you after this. She"s here. I don"t know whether you"ll like her. She"ll like you."
"Where is she?" Lucy asked, rather curious.
"She"s over there, by our hostess. That big black hat is hers. She"s underneath it." Lucy saw a spry, black-haired youngish woman, very vivacious but what she herself called "good." James would have said, "Smart." Not at all like her brother, she thought, and said so. "She"s not such a scoundrel," Urquhart admitted, "but she takes a line of her own. Her husband"s name is Nugent. He is South Irish, where we are North. That boy who went with us to the play is her son. He is a lively breed--so it hasn"t turned out amiss. She"s not at all your sort, but as you know the worst of us you may as well know what we can do when we exert ourselves." He added, "My old father, now with Beelzebub, was a terror."
"Do tell me about him."
"It would take too long. He was very old-fashioned in most ways. They used to call him King Urquhart in Donegal. The worst of it was that he knew good claret and could shoot. That makes a bad combination. He used to sit on a hogshead of it in his front yard and challenge all and sundry to mortal combat. He really did. Duels he used to call them. He said, "Me honour"s involved, d"ye see?" and believed it. But they were really murders, because he was infallible with a revolver.
He adored my mother, but she couldn"t do anything with him. "Tush, me dear," he used to say, "I wouldn"t hurt a hair of his bald head." And then he"d have to bolt over to France for a bit and keep quiet. But everybody liked him, I"m sorry to say. They gave him a public funeral when he died. They took him out of the hea.r.s.e--imagine the great sooty plumes of it--and carried him to the chapel--half a mile away." Lucy didn"t know how much of this to believe, which made it none the worse.
"He was a Catholic?"
"He was."
"And so are you?"
He looked up. "Eh? I suppose I am--if any."
"What _do_ you mean?" she insisted.
"Well," he said. "It"s there, I expect. You don"t get rid of it." She considered this to herself.
Mrs. Nugent--the Honourable Mrs. Nugent, as it afterwards appeared--made herself very amiable. "We both like boys," she said, "which makes everything easy. I hope you liked my Pat--you met him, I know. Yours seems to be an unconscious humourist. Jimmy is always chuckling over him. Mine takes after the Urquharts; rather grim, but quite sound when you know them. My husband is really Irish. He might say "Begorra" at any minute. The Urquharts are a mixed lot. Jimmy says we"re Eurasians when he"s cross with us--which means with himself. I suppose we were border thieves once, like the Turnbulls and Pringles. But James I planted us in Ireland, and there have been James Urquharts ever since. I don"t know why that seems satisfactory, but it does."
"I saw what Jimmy was saying, you know," she said presently. "He began upon me, and then slid off to our deplorable father. An inexhaustible subject to Jimmy, who really admires that kind of thing."
Lucy smilingly deprecated the criticism.
"Oh, but he does. If he could be like that, he would be. But he wants two qualities--he can"t laugh, and he can"t cry. Father could only laugh internally. He used to get crimson, and swallow hard. That was his way. Jimmy can"t laugh at all, that"s the mischief of it. And crying too. Father could cry rivers. One of the best things I remember of him was his crying before Mother. "d.a.m.n it all, Meg, I missed him!"
he said, choking with grief. Mother knew exactly what to say. "You"ll get him next time, Jimmy. Come and change your stockings now." Well, _our_ Jimmy couldn"t do that. To begin with, of course, he wouldn"t have "missed him.""
"No," said Lucy, reflecting, "I don"t think he would miss--unless he was in too much of a hurry to hit."
Mrs. Nugent looked quickly at her. "That is very clever of you. You have touched on his great difference from Father. He is awfully impatient."
All this did Lucy a great deal of good. James thought that she had better call on Mrs. Nugent. He knew all about her.
CHAPTER VIII
AGAIN
The second time was in late February, at the Opera: the _Walkure_, of all operas in the world, where pa.s.sion of the suddenest is seen on its most radiant spring morning. James, who was dreadfully bored by Wagner, and only went because it was the thing to do, and truly also because "a man must be seen with his wife," could not promise to be there, dressed, at such an unearthly hour as half-past six--James, I say, did not go with her, but vowed to be there "long before seven."
That he undertook. So she went alone, and sat, as she always did, half hidden behind the curtain of her box on the second tier.
The place was flooded with dark. The great wonder began--the amazing prelude with its brooding, its surmisals, its storms, its pounding hooves remorselessly pursuing, and flashes of the horn, like the blare of lightning. She surrendered herself, and as the curtain rose settled down to drink with the eyes as well as with the ears; for she was no musician, and could only be deeply moved by this when she saw and heard. It immediately absorbed her; the music "of preparation and suspense" seemed to turn her bones to liquor--and at this moment she again felt herself possessed by man"s love: the strong hand over her heart, the pa.s.sion of his hold, the intoxication of the kiss. To the accompaniment of shrill and wounded violins she yielded herself to this miracle of the dark. She seemed to hear in a sharp whisper, "You darling!" She half turned, she half swooned again, she drank, and she gave to drink. The music speared up to the heights of bliss, then subsided as the hold on her relaxed. When she stretched out her hand for her lover"s, he was not near her. She was alone. The swift and poignant little drama may have lasted a minute; but like a dream it had the suggestion of infinity about it, transcending time as it defied place. Confused, bemused, she turned her attention to the stage, determined to compose herself at all cost. She sat very still, and shivered; she gave all her powers to her mind, and succeeded by main effort. Insensibly the great drama doing down there resumed its hold; and it was even with a slight shock that she became aware by and by of James sitting sedately by her, with the eyegla.s.s sharply set for diversion anywhere but on the scene. Again she remembered with secret amus.e.m.e.nt that she had not been conscious of the eyegla.s.s when--for reasons of his own--he had paid his mysterious homage to love and her.
She kept a firm grip of herself: she would not move an inch towards him. She could never do that again. But she pa.s.sed him over the play-bill, and lifted the gla.s.ses to show him where they were. She saw the eyegla.s.s dip as he nodded his thanks, and heard him whisper as he pa.s.sed back the bill, "No good. Dark as the grave." Oh, extraordinary James! She suffered hysterical laughter, but persisted against it, and succeeded.
When the lights went up she afforded herself a gay welcome of him, from gleaming, happy and conscious eyes. He met it blandly, smiled awry and said, "You love it?"
"Oh," she sighed, meaning all that she dared not say, "how I love it!"
James said, "Bravo. I was very punctual, you"ll admit." That very nearly overcame her. But all she said was, "I didn"t hear you come in--or go out."
James looked very vague at that. He was on the point of frowning over it, but gave it up. It was a Lucyism. He rose and touched his coat-collar, to feel that it gripped where it should. "Let"s see who"s in the house," he said, and searched the boxes. "Royalty, as usual!
That"s what I call devotion. Who"s that woman in a snow-leopard? Oh, yes, of course. Hullo. I say, my child, will you excuse me? I"ve just seen some people I ought to see. There"s lots of time--and I won"t be late." And he was off. A very remarkable lover indeed was James.
Mrs. Nugent waved her hand across the parterre. Francis Lingen knocked and entered. She could afford that; and presently a couple added themselves, young married people whom she liked for their poverty, hopefulness and unaffected pleasure in each other. She made Lingen acquainted with them, and talked to young Mr. Pierson. He spoke with a cheer in his voice. "Ripping opera. Madge adores it. We saw your husband downstairs, but I don"t think he knew us."... And through her head blew the words like a searching wind: "You darling! You darling!"
Oh, that was great love! Small wonder that James saw nothing of the Piersons. And yet--ah, she must give up speculating and judging.
That had undone poor Psyche. Young Mr. Pierson chattered away about Madge and Wagner, both ripping; James returned, bland, positive, dazzling the man of exclusive clubs; was reminded of young Mrs.
Pierson, with whom he shook hands, of young Mr. Pierson, to whom he nodded and said "Ha!" and finally of Francis Lingen. "Ha, Lingen, you here!" Francis shivered. That seemed to him to ring a knell. Since when had he been Lingen to James. Since this moment. Now why had James cold-shouldered him? Was it possible that he had noticed too much devotion?... And if he had, was it not certain that she must have noticed it? He stopped midway of the stairs, and pa.s.sers-by may have thought he was looking for a dropt sixpence. Not at all. The earth seemed to be heaving beneath his feet. But a wave of courage surged up through him. Pooh! no woman yet ever disregarded the homage of a man.
He would send some roses to-morrow, without a card. She would understand. And so it went on. Wagner came back to his own.
On this occasion, after this second great adventure, Lucy had no conflict with fate. Thankfully she took the gift of the G.o.d; she took it as final, as a thing complete in itself, a thing most beautiful, most touching, most honourable to giver and recipient. It revived all her warmth of feeling, but this time without a bitter lees to the dram. And she was immensely the better for it. She felt in charity with all the world, her att.i.tude to James was one of clear sight. Oh, now she understood him through and through. She would await the fulness of time; sufficient for the day was the light of the day.
She was happier than she had been for many years. Half-term was approaching, when she would be allowed to go down and see Lancelot; in these days she felt Spring in the air. February can be kind to us, and show a golden threshold to March. She had a letter from Mabel telling her of Mr. Urquhart"s feats in the hunting field.... "He"s quite mad, I think, and mostly talks about you and Lancelot. He calls you Proserpine. As for his riding, my dear, it curdles the blood. He doesn"t ride, he drives; sits well back, and accelerates on the near side. He brought his own horses, luckily for ours and his neck. They seem to understand it. He hunted every day but one; and then he rushed up to town to keep some appointment and came back to a very late dinner, driving himself in his motor. He is a tempestuous person, but can be very grave when he likes. He talked beautifully one evening--mostly about you." Lucy"s eyes smiled wisely over this letter. She liked to think that she could induce gravity upon a hunting party. She had never quite approved of the Peltry atmosphere.
Hard riding seemed to involve hard living, and hard swearing. She had once heard Laurence let himself go to some rider over hounds, and had put him on a back shelf in her mind--him and his Peltry with him. A prude? No, she was sure she was nothing of the sort; but she liked people to keep a hold on themselves.
A gay little dinner-party, one of hers, as she told James, finished a month of high light. The young Pierson couple, some Warreners, a Mrs.
Treveer and Jimmy Urquhart--eight with themselves. The faithful Francis Lingen was left out as a concession to James and love in the dark. She noticed, with quiet amus.e.m.e.nt, how gratified James was. He was so gratified that he did not even remark upon it. Now James"s little weakness, or one of them, let us say, was that he could not resist a cutting phrase, when the thing did not matter. Therefore--she reasoned--Francis Lingen, absurdly enough, did matter. That he should, that anything of the sort should matter to James was one more sign to her of the promise, just as the weather was one. The Spring was at hand, and soon we should all go a-maying.
So we dined at one table, and had a blaze of daffodils from Wycross, and everybody seemed to talk at once. Pierson told her after dinner that Madge thought Urquhart ripping (as she had thought Wagner); and certainly he was one to make a dinner-party go. He was ridiculous about Laurence Corbet and his sacred foxes. "Don"t _shoot_ that thing!
G.o.d of Heaven, what are you about?" "Oh, I beg your pardon, I thought--" "Are you out of your senses? That must be torn to pieces by dogs." He was very good at simulating savagery, but had a favourite trick of dropping it suddenly, or turning it on himself. He caught Mrs. Treveer, a lady of ardour not tempered by insight. She agreed with him about hunting. "Oh, you are so right! Now can"t something be done about it? Couldn"t a little paper be written--in that vein, you know?" "Not by me," said Urquhart. "I"m a hunting man, you see." Mrs.
Treveer held up her fan, but took no offence.
Lucy, with Mabel"s letter in mind, gave her guest some attention; but for the life of her could not see that he paid her any beyond what he had for the others or for his dinner. He joined Pierson at her side, and made no effort to oust him. He did not flatter her by recalling Lancelot; he seemed rather to muse out loud. James with his coat-tails to the fire was quite at his ease--and when Urquhart offered to drive her down to Westgate for the half-term (which she herself mentioned), it was James who said, "Capital! That will be jolly for you." "But _you_ wouldn"t come, would you?" "My child, it is that I _couldn"t_ come. A motor in March! I should die. Besides," he added, "as you know, I have to be at Brighton that Sunday." She had known it, and she had known also that Brighton was an excuse. One of the bogies she kept locked in a cupboard was James"s _ennui_ when Lancelot was to the fore. Could this too be jealousy!
"I"ll tell you what I"ll do," Jimmy Urquhart said. "The run down would be rather jolly, but the run back in the dark might be a bore. The Nugents have got a house at Sandwich. Why shouldn"t you go there? You know my sister Nugent, as they used to say."