Don"t you think it would choke him off?
LADY FREDERICK.
I think it very probable.
FOULDES.
Well, hadn"t you better cave in?
LADY FREDERICK.
[_Ringing the bell._] Ah, but you"ve not seen my cards yet. [_A servant enters._] Tell my servant to bring down the despatch-box which is on my writing-table.
SERVANT.
Yes, miladi.
[_Exit._
FOULDES.
What"s up now?
LADY FREDERICK.
Well, four or five years ago I was staying at this hotel, and Mimi la Bretonne had rooms here.
FOULDES.
I never heard of the lady, but her name suggests that she had an affectionate nature.
LADY FREDERICK.
She was a little singer at the Folies Bergeres, and she had the loveliest emeralds I ever saw.
FOULDES.
But you don"t know Maud"s.
LADY FREDERICK.
The late Lord Mereston had a pa.s.sion for emeralds. He always thought they were such pure stones.
FOULDES.
[_Quickly._] I beg your pardon?
LADY FREDERICK.
Well, Mimi fell desperately ill, and there was no one to look after her.
Of course the pious English ladies in the hotel wouldn"t go within a mile of her, so I went and did the usual thing, don"t you know.
[LADY FREDERICK"S _man comes in with a small despatch-box which he places on a table. He goes out._ LADY FREDERICK _as she talks, unlocks it_.
FOULDES.
Thank G.o.d I"m a bachelor, and no ministering angel ever smoothes my pillow when I particularly want to be left alone.
LADY FREDERICK.
I nursed her more or less through the whole illness, and afterwards she fancied she owed me her worthless little life. She wanted to give me the precious emeralds, and when I refused was so heart-broken that I said I"d take one thing if I might.
FOULDES.
And what was that?
LADY FREDERICK.
A bundle of letters. I"d seen the address on the back of the envelope, and then I recognised the writing. I thought they"d be much safer in my hands than in hers. [_She takes them out of the box and hands them to_ PARADINE.] Here they are.
[_He looks and starts violently._
FOULDES.
89 Grosvenor Square. It"s Mereston"s writing. You don"t mean? What! Ah, ah, ah. [_He bursts into a shout of laughter._] The old sinner. And Mereston wouldn"t have me in the house, if you please, because I was a dissolute libertine. And he was the president of the Broad Church Union.
Good Lord, how often have I heard him say: "Gentlemen, I take my stand on the morality, the cleanliness and the purity of English Family Life."
Oh, oh, oh.
LADY FREDERICK.
I"ve often noticed that the religious temperament is very susceptible to the charms of my s.e.x.
FOULDES.
May I look?
LADY FREDERICK.
Well, I don"t know. I suppose so.
FOULDES.
[_Reading._] "Heart"s delight".... And he signs himself, "your darling chickabiddy." The old ruffian.
LADY FREDERICK.
She was a very pretty little thing.