I didn"t believe a word of it!
"One of the best old chaps I ever knew. Hard and crusty on the outside--a rough diamond, if you know what I mean--but one of Nature"s own gentlemen. I"m proud to think he had a good opinion of me----"
All a make-up for the benefit of the ingenuous, ignorant little heiress to whom he was talking! He was brazenly "pulling" Miss Million"s unsophisticated leg! Honourable or not, he was an unscrupulous adventurer, this Jim Burke! And the other young man--the young bank manager, who sat there balancing a cup of tea in one hand and one of the pale-green Gunter"s cakes in the other? He hadn"t a word to say. There he sat. I glanced at him. He looked wooden. But behind the woodenness there was disapproval, I could see. Disapproval of the whole situation.
Ah! I shouldn"t have to ask him what he thought of the Honourable Jim Burke. I could read Mr. Brace"s opinion of him written in every line of Mr. Brace"s clean-shaven, honest face that somehow didn"t look so handsome this afternoon. Showiness such as that of the big, black-haired, blue-eyed Irishman is enough to "put out" the light of any one else! Why, why did I allow Million to meet him? He"d take care that this was not the only time! He was taking care of that.
I heard him saying something about taking Miss Million on the coach somewhere. I saw Miss Million clap her hands that are still rather red and rough from housework, manicure them as I will.
"What, me! On a coach? What, with all them lovely white horses and that trumpeter?" cried Million gleefully. "Would I like it? Oh, Mr. Burke!"
Mr. Burke immediately began arranging dates and times for this expedition. He said, I think, "the day after to-morrow----"
Oh, dear! What am I going to do about this? Forbid her to go? Up to now everything that I have said has had such an immense influence upon little Million. But now? What about that quite new gleam of defiance in her grey eyes? Alas! the influence of one girl upon the actions of another girl may be as "immense" as you please, but wait until it is countermined by some newly appeared, attractive young scoundrel of a man! (I am sure he is a scoundrel.)
I foresee heated arguments between my young mistress and myself, with many struggles ahead.
Meanwhile, I feel that my only hope lies in Mr. Brace. Without a word pa.s.sing between us, I felt that he understood something of my anxiety in this situation. He might be able to help me, though I think I should have thought more of him if he had tried to talk a little this afternoon instead of allowing the conversation to consist of a monologue by that Irishman, punctuated by rapturous little c.o.c.kney comments from Miss Million.
He, Mr. Brace, left first.
I glided away from my station at the table to open the door for him.
"Thank you," he said. "Good afternoon, Miss Lovelace." I must see him again, or write to him, to ask for his help, I think!
The Honourable Jim tore himself from Million"s side about five minutes later.
"Good-bye, Miss Million. I wish I could tell you how much it"s meant to me, meeting my old friend"s niece in this way," purred the golden voice, while the Honourable Jim held Million"s little hand in his and gazed down upon the enraptured face of her. One sees faces like that sometimes outlining the gallery railing at a theatre, while below the orchestra drawls out a phrase of some dreamy waltz and, on the stage, the matinee hero turns his best profile to the audience and murmurs thrillingly: "Little girl! Do you dream how different my life could be--with you?"
It wouldn"t surprise me in the least if the Honourable Jim had made up his mind to say something of the sort to Million, quite soon!
Of course, his life would be "different" if he had heaps of money.
Somehow I can"t help feeling that, in spite of his clothes and the dash he cuts, he hasn"t a penny to his name.
"Good-bye. _A bientot_," he said to Million.
Oh, why did I ever bring her to the Cecil? As the door closed behind her visitor Million breathed a heavy sigh and said, just as those theatre-going girls say at the drop of a curtain: "Wasn"t he lovely?"
Then she threw herself down on to the couch, which bounced. Something fell from it on to the floor.
"There, if he hasn"t left his walkin"-stick be"ind him!" exclaimed Million, picking up a heavy ebony cane with a handsome gold top to it. I realised that here was an excuse, hatched up by that conscienceless young Celt, to return shortly.
Million didn"t see that. She exclaimed: "Now I"ve got to run after him with it, I s"pose----"
"No, you haven"t, Miss Million. I will take it. It"s the maid"s place,"
I interposed. And quickly I took the cane and slipped out into the corridor with it.
I caught up with the tall visitor just as he reached the lift.
"You left your cane in Miss Million"s room, sir," I said to him in a tone as stiff as that of a lady"s-maid turned into a pillar of ice.
The big Irishman turned. But he did not put out his hand for the cane at once.
He just said, "That"s very kind of you," and smiled at me. Smiled with all those bold blue eyes of his. Then he said in a voice lower and more flattering even than he had used to the heiress herself: "I wanted a word with you, Miss Lovelace, I think they call you. It"s just this----"
He paused, smiled more broadly all over his handsome face, and added these surprising words:
"What"s your game, you two?"
"Game!--I beg your pardon!" I said haughtily. (I hope I didn"t show how startled and confused I was. What could he mean by "our game"?)
I gazed up at him, and he gave a short laugh. Then he said: "Is it because nothing suits a pretty woman better than that kit? Is it just because you know the man"s not born that can resist ye in a cap and ap.r.o.n?"
I was too utterly taken aback to think of any answer. I thrust the cane into his hands, and fled back, down the corridor, into my mistress"s room. And, as I went in, I think I heard the Honourable Jim still laughing.
CHAPTER XIII
MY FIRST "AFTERNOON OUT"
"DON"T you think it"s about time you went and had an afternoon out, Smith?"
This was the remark addressed to me by my employer the morning after the afternoon of her first tea-party.
For a moment I didn"t answer. The fact is I was too angry! This is absurd, of course. For days I"ve scolded Million for forgetting our quick change of positions, and for calling me "Miss" or "Miss Beatrice."
And yet, now that the new heiress is beginning to realise our respective roles and to call me, quite naturally, by the name which I chose for myself, I"m foolishly annoyed. I feel the stirring of a rebellious little thought. "What cheek!"
This must be suppressed.
"You know you did ought to have one afternoon a week," our once maid-of-all-work reminded me as she sat in a pale-blue glorified dressing-gown in front of the dressing-table mirror. I had drawn up a lower chair beside her, and was doing my best with the nails of one of her still coa.r.s.e and roughened little hands, gently pushing the ill-treated skin away from the "half-moons." Million"s other hand was dipped into a clouded marble bowl full of warm, lemon-scented emollient stuff.
"Here you"ve been doin" for me for well over the week now, and haven"t taken a minute off for yourself."
"Oh, I haven"t wanted one, thanks," I replied rather absently.
I wasn"t thinking of what Million was saying. I was pondering rather helplessly over the whole situation; thinking of Million, of her childish ignorance and her money, of myself, of that flattering-tongued, fortune-hunting Irishman who had asked me in the corridor what "our game" was, of that coach-drive that he intended to take Million to-morrow, of what all this was going to lead to.
"Friday, this afternoon. I always had Fridays off. You"d better take it," the new heiress said, with quite a new note of authority. "You can pop out dreckly after lunch, and I shan"t want you back again until it"s time for you to come and do me up for late dinner."
Miss Million dines in her room; but she is, as she puts it, "breakin" in all her low-cut gowns while she"s alone, so as to get accustomed to the feel of it."
I looked at her.
I thought, "Why does she want me out of the way?"
For I couldn"t help guessing that this was at the bottom of Miss Million"s offering her maid that afternoon out!