Edith dropped her book, and picked it up again. Her friend thought she saw, whether through stooping or what not, an increase of colour in her face.
"It isn"t everyone," continued Madame Frabelle, "who would appreciate your husband as you do. To me he is a very charming man. I can understand his inspiring a feeling almost of motherly interest. I even feel sometimes," she laughed, "as if it would be a pleasure to look after him, take care of him. I think it would not have been a bad thing for him to have married a woman a little older than himself. But you, Edith, you"re so young. You see, you might have made a mistake when you married him. You were a mere girl, and I could imagine some of his ways might irritate a very young woman."
After a moment she went on: "I suppose Bruce was very handsome when you married him?"
"Yes, he was. But he hasn"t altered much."
"Yet, as I told you before, Edith, though I think you an ideal wife, you don"t give me the impression of being in love with him. I hope you don"t take this as an impertinence, my dear?"
"Not at all. And I"m not sure that I am."
"Yet your mother-in-law told me the other day that you had been such a marvellous wife to him. That you had even made sacrifices. You have never had anything to forgive, surely?"
"Oh no, never," hastily said Edith, fearing that Mrs Ottley was a little inclined to be indiscreet.
"She told me that Bruce had been occasionally attracted--only very slightly--by other women, but that you were the only person he really cared for."
"Oh, I doubt if he ever thinks much of anyone else," said Edith.
A characteristic of the Mitch.e.l.ls" entertainments was that one always met there the people they had met, even for the first time, at one"s own house. Here were the Conistons, and Landi, whom Edith was always delighted to see.
It was a large and gay lunch. Edith was placed some distance from Mr Mitch.e.l.l. Of course there was also a novelty--some lion or other was always at the Mitch.e.l.ls". Today it consisted of a certain clergyman, called the Rev. Byrne Fraser, of whom Mrs Mitch.e.l.l and her circle were making much. He was a handsome, weary-looking man of whom more was supposed than could conveniently be said. His wife, who adored him, admitted that though he was an excellent husband, he suffered from rheumatism and religious doubts, which made him occasionally rather trying. There had been some story about him--n.o.body knew what it was.
Madame Frabelle instantly took his side, and said she was sure he had been ill-treated, though she knew nothing whatever about it. She was placed next to him at table and began immediately on what she thought was his special subject.
"I understand that you"re very modern in your views," she said, smiling.
"I!" he exclaimed in some surprise. "Really you are quite mistaken. I don"t think I am at all."
"Really? Oh, I"m so glad--I"ve such a worship myself for tradition. I"m so thankful that you have, too."
"I don"t know that I have," he said.
"It"s true, then, what I heard--I felt it was the moment I looked at you, Mr Fraser--I mean, that you"re an atheist."
"A _what_?" he exclaimed, turning pale with horror. "Good heavens, Madame, do you know what my profession is?"
He seemed utterly puzzled by her. She managed, all the same, somehow or other to lure him into a conversation in which she _heartily_ took his side. By the end of lunch they were getting on splendidly, though neither of them knew what they were talking about.
And this was one of the curious characteristics of Madame Frabelle.
n.o.body made so many gaffes, yet no-one got out of them so well. To use the lawyer"s phrase, she used so many words that she managed to engulf her own and her interlocutor"s ideas. No-one, perhaps, had ever talked so much nonsense seriously as she did that day, but the Rev. Byrne Fraser said she was a remarkable woman, who had read and thought deeply.
Also he was enchanted with her interest in him, as everybody always was.
Edith thought she had heard Mr Mitch.e.l.l saying something to the others that interested her. She managed to get near him when the gentlemen joined them in the studio, as they called the large room where there was a stage, a piano, a parquet floor, and every possible arrangement for amus.e.m.e.nt. Madame Frabelle moved quickly away, supposing that Edith wished to speak to him for his sake, whereas really it was in order to have repeated something she thought she had heard at lunch.
"Did I hear you saying anything about your old friend, Aylmer Ross?" she asked.
"Yes, indeed. Haven"t you heard? The poor fellow has been wounded. He was taken into hospital at once, fortunately, and he"s getting better, and is going to be brought home almost immediately, to the same old house in Jermyn Street. I think his son is to meet him at the station today. We must all go and see him. Capital chap, Aylmer. I always liked him. He"s travelled so much that--even before the war--I hadn"t seen him for three years."
"Was the wound serious?" asked Edith, who had turned pale.
"They were anxious at first. Now he"s out of danger. But, poor chap, I"m afraid he won"t be able to move for a good while. His leg is broken. I hear he"s got to be kept lying down two or three months."
"Qu"est ce qu"il y a, Edith?" asked Landi, who joined her.
"I"ve just heard some bad news," she said, "but don"t speak about it."
She told him.
"Bien. Du calme, mon enfant; du calme!"
"But, I"m anxious, Landi."
"Ca se voit!"
"Do you think--"
"Ce ne sera rien. It"s the best thing that could happen to him. He"ll be all right.... I suppose you want to see him, Edith?"
"He may not wish to see me," said Edith.
"Oh yes, he will. You were the first person he thought of," answered Landi. "Why, my dear, you forget you treated him badly!"
"Then, if he"d treated _me_ badly he wouldn"t care to see me again, you mean?"
"C"est probable," said Landi, selecting with care a very large cigar from a box that was being handed round. "Now, be quite tranquil. I shall go and see him directly I leave here, and I"ll let you hear every detail. Will that do?"
"Thanks, dear Landi!... But even if he wishes to see me, ought I to go?"
"That I don"t know. But you will."
He lighted the long cigar.
CHAPTER IX
Next morning Edith, who always came down to breakfast, though somewhat late, found on her plate a letter from Lady Conroy, that most vague and forgetful of all charming Irishwomen. It said:
"My DEAR MRS OTTLEY,
Do excuse my troubling you, but could you give me a little information?
Someone has asked me about Madame Frabelle. I know that she is a friend of yours, and is staying with you, and I said so; also I have a sort of idea that she was, in some way, connected with you by marriage or relationship, but of that I was not quite sure. I fancy that it is due to you that I have the pleasure of knowing her, anyhow.
"Could you tell me who she was before she married? What her husband was, and anything else about her? That she is most charming and a very clever woman I know, of course, already. To say she is a friend of yours is enough to say that, but the rest I forget.
"Hoping you will forgive my troubling you, and that you are all very well, I remain, yours most sincerely.