"Who is she, d.i.c.ky?" I tried to make my voice careless. "I did not catch her name when you introduced us."
"You"ll probably see enough of her so you won"t forget it," returned d.i.c.ky, grinning. "She"s one of the busiest little members of the "Welcome to Our City Committee" in the set I train most with. She won"t rest till you"ve met all the boys and girls and been properly lionized. She"s one of the best little scouts going, and, if she"d cut out the war paint and modulate that Comanche yell she calls her voice there would be few women to equal her for brains or looks."
"But you haven"t told me yet what her name is," I persisted.
"Well, in private life she"s Mrs. Harry Underwood--that"s Harry with her--but she"s better known all over the country as the cleverest producer of ill.u.s.trated jingles for advertising we have. Remember that Simple Simon parody for the mincemeat advertis.e.m.e.nt we laughed over some time ago, and I told you I knew the woman who did it? There she is before you," and d.i.c.ky waved his hand grandiloquently.
"Lillian Gale!" I almost gasped the name.
"The same," rejoined d.i.c.ky, and turned again to his program, while I sat in amazed horror, with all my oldtime theories crumbling around me.
For I had read of Lillian Gale and her married troubles. I knew that Harry Underwood was her second husband and that she had been divorced from her first spouse after a scandal which has been aired quite fully in the newspapers. She had not been proved guilty, but her skirts certainly had been smirched by rumor. According to the ideas which had been mine, d.i.c.ky should have shrunk from having me ever meet such a woman, let alone planning to have me on terms of intimacy with her.
What should I do?
When the curtain went down on the first act I turned to d.i.c.ky happily, eager to hear his comments and filled with a throng of thoughts to wipe away any remembrance from his mind of the unhappiness that had promised to mar my evening, and which I feared he had read in my eyes. But just as I opened my lips to speak, he interrupted me with a startled exclamation:
"Sit down, Lil. h.e.l.lo, Harry."
d.i.c.ky was on his feet in an instant and Lillian Gale was seated next to me with d.i.c.ky and her husband leaning over us before I had fully realized that the woman, the thought of whom had so disturbed my evening, was so close to me.
"I want you to know Mrs. Graham, Harry," d.i.c.ky said.
I glowed inwardly at the note of pride in his voice and looked up to meet a pair of brilliant black eyes looking at me with an appraising approval that grated. He was a tall, good looking chap, with an air of ennui that sat oddly on his powerful frame. I felt sure that I would like Lillian Gale"s husband as little as I did the woman herself.
I was glad when the lights dimmed slowly, that the second act was about to begin. Mrs. Underwood rose with a noisy rustling of draperies. She evidently was one of those women who can do nothing quietly, and turning to me said, cordially:
"Be sure to wait for us in the lobby when this is over. We have a plan," and before I had time to reply she had rustled away to her own seat, her tall husband following at some little distance behind her, but apparently oblivious of her presence as if she were a stranger.
I didn"t much enjoy the second act, even though I realized that it was one of the best comedy scenes I had ever seen, both in its lines and its acting; but I had a problem to settle, and I longed for the quiet hour in my own room which my mother had trained me to take every day since childhood.
Of course, I realized that Lillian Gale meant to have us join them for a supper party after the theatre. The invitation would be given to us in the lobby after the last act. Upon the way that I received that invitation must depend my future conduct toward this woman. I could not make one of the proposed party and afterward decline to know her.
My instincts all cried out to me to avoid Lillian Gale. She outraged all my canons of good taste, although even through my prejudices I had to admit there was something oddly attractive about her in spite of her atrocious make-up.
But, on the other hand, she and her husband appeared to be on most intimate terms with d.i.c.ky. Would I seriously offend him if I refused to treat his friends with friendliness equal to that which they seemed ready to shower upon me?
"Would you like to walk a bit, Madge?" d.i.c.ky"s voice started me into a recollection of my surroundings. I had been so absorbed in the problem of whether I should or should not accept Lillian Gale as an intimate friend that I did not know that the curtain had fallen on the second act, nor did I know how the act had ended. My problem was still unsolved. I welcomed the diversion of a turn in the fresher aid of the lobby.
As we pa.s.sed up the aisle I felt a sudden tug, then an ominous ripping. The floating chiffon overdrapery of my gown had caught in a seat. As d.i.c.ky bent to release me his face showed consternation.
Almost a length of the dainty fabric trailed on the floor.
I have schooled my self-repression for many a weary year. I feared my gown, in which I had taken such pride, was ruined, but I would not let any one know I cared about it. I gathered it up and smiled at d.i.c.ky.
"It really doesn"t matter," I said. "If you"ll leave me at the woman"s dressing room I think I can fix it up all right."
d.i.c.ky drew a relieved breath. His heartily murmured, "You"re a thoroughbred for sure, Madge," rewarded me for my composure. I was just woman enough also to be comforted by the whispered comments of two women who sat just behind the seat which caused the mischief.
"Isn"t that a shame--that exquisite gown?" and the rejoinder. "But isn"t she game? I couldn"t smile like that--I"d be crying my eyes out"
d.i.c.ky left me at the door of the dressing room, pressing a coin slyly into my hand. "You"ll tip the maid," he explained, and I blessed him for his thoughtfulness. I had been too absorbed in my gown to think of anything else.
An obsequious maid provided me with needle, thimble and thread. She offered to mend the tear for me, but I had a horror of being made conspicuous by her ministrations.
"If you"ll let me have a chair in a corner I shall do very nicely,"
I told her, and was at once snugly ensconced near one of her mirrors behind the very comfortable rampart of an enormously fat woman in an exaggerated evening gown, who was devoting much pains and cosmetics to her complexion. She looked as if she intended to remain at the particular mirror all the intermission. I hoped she would stay there, in spite the dagger"s looks she was receiving from other complexion repairers who coveted her place, for she was an effectual shield from curious eyes.
To my joy I found that the gown was not ruined, and that it could be repaired without much expense or trouble. Even the temporary mending I was doing disguised the break. I was so interested in the mending that I was completely lost to my surroundings, but the sound of a familiar name brought me to with a jerk.
"Did you see the d.i.c.ky-bird and his marble bride?" A high-pitched yet rather sweet voice asked the question, and a deep contralto answered it.
"Yes, indeed, and I saw the way Lillian Gale was rushing them. For my part I don"t think that"s quite clubby of Lil. Of course she"s got into the way of thinking she has a first mortgage on the d.i.c.ky-bird, but she might give that beautiful bride a chance for her life before she forecloses."
"What"s the secret of Lil"s attraction for d.i.c.ky Graham, anyway?" the soprano voice queried. "She"s a good seven years older than he is, and both her past and her youth are rather frayed at the edges, you know."
"Oh! love"s young dream, and the habit of long a.s.sociation," returned the contralto. I"ve heard that Lil was d.i.c.ky"s first love. She was a stunner for looks 19 years ago, and d.i.c.ky was just young enough to be swept off his feet."
"That must have been before Lil married that unspeakable Morten, the fellow she divorced, wasn"t it?" interrupted the soprano.
"Yes, it was," the contralto answered. "I don"t know whether d.i.c.ky has been half in love with Lil all these years or not, but he certainly has been her best friend. And now comes the news of his marriage to somebody the crowd never heard of."
"Well, I think Lil may say good-by to her d.i.c.ky-bird now," returned the first speaker. "That bride is quite the prettiest piece of flesh and blood I"ve seen for many days."
"She is all of that," agreed the other, "She holds all the best cards, but you"ll find she is too statuesque and dignified to play them.
I saw her face tonight when Lil was talking to her. She is not accustomed to Lil"s kind, and she does not like her friendship with d.i.c.ky."
"You can"t blame her for that," interrupted the soprano. "I am sure I would not like to see my husband dancing attendance on Lillian Gale."
"No, of course not," the contralto replied; "but she will be just fool enough to show d.i.c.ky her feelings, and d.i.c.ky, who is the soul of loyalty to his friends, will resent her att.i.tude and try to make it up to Lil and Harry by being extra nice to them. It"s too bad. But then, these marble statue sort of women always sacrifice their love for their pride or their fool notions or propriety."
"It will be as good as a play to watch the developments," the soprano commented. "Come on, we"ll be too late for the curtain."
I felt suddenly faint, and the room appeared to whirl around me. The maid touched me on the arm.
"Are you ill, madame? Here!" and she held a gla.s.s of water to my lips.
I drank it and motioned her away.
"I"ll be all right in a moment," I murmured. "Thank you, but I am quite well."
So this was what marriage would mean to me, a contest with another woman for my husband"s love! A fierce anger took possession of me.
One moment I regretted my marriage to d.i.c.ky, the next I was fiercely primitive as any savage woman in my desire to crush my rival. I could have strangled Lillian Gale in that moment. Then common sense came back to me. What was it that woman had said? I had all the best cards in my hand? Well! I would play them. I felt sure that d.i.c.ky loved me. I would not jeopardize that love for a temporary pride. I would eliminate Lillian Gale from d.i.c.ky"s life, but I would bide my time to do it.
IV
DIVIDED OPINIONS