"The flowers, Madam, yes. Mr. Burke gave them to me himself with orders that they were to be placed in Miss Million"s room."
"Yes," I answered for Miss Million; "but who is this Mr. Burke? That is what we--I mean that is what Miss Million wants to know."
The sandy eyebrows of the chamber-maid rose to the top of her forehead as she replied: "Mr. Burke? I understood, Madam, that----" Then she stopped and began again: "Mr. Burke is staying in the hotel just now, Madam."
A sudden presentiment chilled me. I glanced from the small, ill-clad figure of the new heiress sitting at the table with her carnations, through the open door into her bedroom with the pyramidal new trunks which had attracted their full share of glances this morning!
Then I looked back to the chamber-maid standing there so deferentially in front of the two worst-dressed people at the Cecil. And I said quickly: "Is he--is Mr. Burke the man who drove up in the four-in-hand this morning?"
"Yes, Madam. A black-and-yellow coach with four white horses; that would be Mr. Burke"s party."
"Lor"!" broke for the fiftieth time this day from the lips of Million.
"That young gentleman with all those grand people, and the trumpet"
(this was the posthorn), "and what not? Him with the red rose in his b.u.t.tonhole?" Million was as red as that rose in her flattered excitement, as she spoke. "Well, I never! Did you ever, Miss--er--Smith!
Did you ever? Sending me in these beautiful flowers and all. Whatever made him think he knew me?"
"I can"t say, Madam," took up the chamber-maid, "but I certainly understood from Mr. Burke that he knew your family--in the States, I think he said."
"Would that be me uncle that I got my money from?" murmured the artless Million to me.
I thought of the confab that I"d overheard in the central hall between the hotel porter and that loudly dressed young man who had raised his hat as we pa.s.sed. It had been ascertained for him, then, that Miss Million and "The Sausage King" had something to do with each other!
Awful young man! Million, looking visibly overcome, murmured: "Fancy dad"s own brother having such cla.s.sy friends out there! A Honourable!
Doesn"t that mean being relations with some duke or earl?"
"Mr. Burke is the second son of Lord Ballyneck, an Irish peer, I believe, Madam," the chamber-maid informed us--or rather me. I wish all these people wouldn"t turn to me always, ignoring the real head of affairs, Million. Never mind. Wait until I"ve got her into her new gowns, and myself into the cap and ap.r.o.n! There"ll be a difference then!
The chamber-maid added: "Mr. Burke left a message for Miss Million."
"A message----"
"Yes, Madam; he said he would give himself the pleasure of calling upon you to-morrow afternoon here at about four o"clock, to have a talk about mutual friends. I said that I would let Miss Million know."
"Glory!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Million, as the chamber-maid withdrew. "Jer hear that, Miss Beatrice?"
"I hear you calling me by my wrong name again," I said severely.
"Smith, I mean! D"you take it in that we"re going to have that young gentleman coming calling here to-morrow to see us? Oh, lor"! I shall be too nervous to open my mouth, I know.... Which of me new dresses d"you think I"d better put on, M--Smith? Better be the very grandest I got, didn"t it? Oh! I shall go trembly all over when I see him again close to, I know I shall," babbled Million, starry-eyed with excitement.
"Didn"t I ought to drop him a line to thank him for them lovely flowers and to say I shall be so pleased to see him?"
"Certainly not!" I said firmly. "In the first place, I don"t think you ought to see him at all." Million gaped at me.
"Not see----But he"s coming here to call!"
My voice sounded as severe as Aunt Anastasia"s own as I returned: "I don"t think he seemed a very desirable sort of visitor."
"Not----But, Miss, dear, you heard what the maid said. He"s a Honourable!"
"I don"t care if he"s a Serene Highness. I didn"t like the look of him."
"I thought he looked lovely!" protested the little heiress, gazing half-timidly, half-reproachfully upon me. "Look at the beautiful kind smile he"d got, and so good-lookin"! And even if he wasn"t a lord"s son, you could see at a glance that he was a perfect gentleman, used to every luxury!"
"Yes, I daresay," I began. "But--well! I don"t know how to explain why I don"t think we--you ought to get to know him, Million. But I don"t. For one thing, I heard him making inquiries about you as we went through this afternoon. I heard him tell the hall porter to find out if you had anything to do with Mr. Million, of Chicago!"
"Very natural kind of remark to pa.s.s," said little Million. "Seeing new people come in, and knowing uncle"s name. It"s because of uncle, you see, that he wants to make friends."
"Because of uncle"s money!" I blurted out rather brutally.
"Oh, Miss--oh, Smith!" protested Million, all reproachful eyes. "What would he want with more money, a young gentleman like that? He"s got no end of his own."
"How do you know?"
"But--w"y! Look at him!" cried Million. "Look at his clothes! Look at that lovely coach an" those horses----"
"Very likely not his own," I said, shaking my head at her. "My dear Million--for goodness" sake remind me to practise calling you "Miss"; I"m always reminding you to practise not calling me it! My dear Miss Million, I feel in all my bones one sad presentiment. That young man is a fortune-hunter. I saw it in his bold and sea-blue eye. As it says in the advertis.e.m.e.nt, "It"s your money he wants." I believe he"s the sort of person who makes up to any one with money. (I expect all those other men he was with were rich enough.) And I don"t think you ought to make friends with this Mr. Burke until we"ve heard a little more about him.
Certainly I don"t think you ought to let him come and see you here without further preliminaries to-morrow afternoon!"
"What am I goin" to do about it, then?" asked Million in a small voice.
Her mouth drooped. Her grey eyes gazed anxiously at me, to whom she now turns as her only guide, philosopher, and friend. She was evidently amazed that I didn"t share her impressions of this "lovely" young "Honourable." She had wanted to see him "close to"--a fearful joy! She had meant to dress up in her grandest new finery for the occasion. And now she was woefully disappointed.
Poor little soul!
Yes; evidently her eyes had already been dazzled by that vision this morning outside the Cecil; that gay picture that had looked likesome brightly coloured smoking-room print. The brilliant, lemon-yellow-and-black coach, the postilion behind, the spanking white horses, the handsome, big, ruddy-faced young sportsman who was driving....
But it was my duty to see that only her eyes were caught. Not her heart--as it probably would be if she saw much more of that very showy young rake! And not her fortune.
I said, feeling suddenly more grown-up and sensible than I"ve ever been in my life: "You will have to leave word that you are not at home to-morrow afternoon."
"Very well, Miss Smith," said my employer blankly. She sat for a minute silent in the hotel easy-chair, holding the carnations. Then her small, disappointed face lighted up a little.
"But I shall be at home," she reminded me, with a note of hope in her tone. "Got to be. It"s Thursday to-morrow."
"What about that?" I said, wondering if Million were again harking back to the rules of her previous existence. Thursday is my Aunt Anastasia"s "day" for the stair-rods and the fenders, and the whole of No. 45 is wont to reek with Bra.s.so. Could Million have meant----
No.
She took up: "Don"t you remember? Thursday afternoon was when that other young gentleman was going to drop in. Him from the bank. That Mr.
Brace. He"ll be coming. You said he might."
"So he is," I said. "But that won"t make any difference. You"ll be "at home" to him. Not to Mr. Burke. That"s all."
"I can"t be in two places at once, and they"re both coming at four,"
argued the artless Million. "How can I say I"m not at home, when----"
"Oh, Million! It just shows you never could have been in service in very exalted situations," I laughed. "Don"t you know that "not at home"
simply means you don"t wish to see that particular visitor?"
Little Million"s whole face was eloquent of the retort. "But I do wish to see him!" She did not say it. She gave a very hard sniff at the carnations in her hand, and suggested diffidently and rather shakily: "P"raps Mr. Brace might have liked to see another gentleman here? More company for him."