Helene had a charming light coquetry, wholly French, and she exercised it indiscriminately, much to the delight of the old beaux, for she loved to please, to be admired; she had an innocent desire that all men should think her quite beautiful and irresistible. Even her husband had never seen her in an unbecoming _deshabille_; she coquetted with him shamelessly, whenever she was not too gloriously serious and intent only upon making him happy. Until lately--
This was by no means her ordinary form.
He had come upon too many couples in remote corners of conservatories, had been a not unaccomplished princ.i.p.al in his own day ... there was, beyond question, some deep understanding between her and this man.
Suddenly Ruyler"s gaze burned through to his wife"s consciousness. She moved her eyes to his, flushed to her hair, then for a moment looked almost gray. But she recovered herself immediately and further showed her remarkable powers of self-possession by turning back to her partner and talking to him with animation instead of plunging into conversation with the man on her right.
At the same moment Ruyler became subtly aware that Mrs. Thornton was looking at his wife and Doremus, and as his eyes focused he saw her long, thin, mobile mouth curl and her eyes fill with open disdain. The mist in his brain fled as abruptly as an inland fog out in the bay before one of the sudden winds of the Pacific. In any case, his mind hardly could have remained in a state of confusion for long; but that his young wife was being openly contemned by the cleverest as well as the most powerful woman in San Francisco was enough to restore his equilibrium in a flash.
Whatever his wife"s indiscretions, it was his business to protect her until such time as he had proof of more than indiscretion. And in this instance he should be his own detective.
He turned to Mrs. Thornton.
"Going on to the Fairmont?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, I have a new gown--have you admired it? Arrived from Paris last night--and I am chaperoning two of these girls. You are not, of course?"
"I did intend to, but it"s no go. Still, I may drop in late and take my wife home--"
"Let me take her home." Was his imagination morbid, or was there something both peremptory and eager in Mrs. Thornton"s tones? "I"m stopping at the Fairmont, of course, but Fordy and I often take a drive after a hot night and a heavy supper."
"If you would take her home in case I miss it. I must go to the office--"
"I"d like to. That"s settled." This time her tones were warm and friendly. Ruyler knew that Mrs. Thornton did not like his wife, but her friendliness toward him, since her return from Europe three or four months ago, had increased, if anything. His mind was now working with its accustomed keen clarity. He recalled that there had been no surprise mixed with the contempt in her regard of his wife and Doremus.... He also recalled that several times of late when he had met her at the Fairmont--where he often lunched with a group of men--she had regarded him with a curious considering glance, which he suddenly vocalized as: "How long?"
This affair had been going on for some time, then. Either it was common talk, or some circ.u.mstance had enlightened Mrs. Thornton alone.
He glanced around the table. No one appeared to be taking the slightest notice of one of many flirtations. At least, whatever his wife"s infatuation, he could avert gossip. Mrs. Thornton might be a tigress, but she was not a cat.
"When do you go down to Burlingame?" she asked.
"Not for two or three weeks yet. I don"t fancy merely sleeping in the country. But by that time things will ease up a bit and I can get down every day in time to have a game of golf before dinner."
"Shall Mrs. Ruyler migrate with the rest?"
"Hardly."
"It will be dull for her in town. No reflections on your charming society, but of course she does not get much of it, and she will miss her young friends. After all, she is a child and needs playmates."
Ruyler darted at her a sharp look, but she was smiling amiably. Doremus and the men he lived with, in town had a bungalow at Burlingame and they bought their commutation tickets at precisely the fashionable moment.
"She will stay in town," he said shortly. "She needs a rest, and San Francisco is the healthiest spot on earth."
"But trying to the nerves when what we inaccurately call the trade winds begin. Why not let her stay with me? Of course she would be lonely in her own house, and is too young to stay there alone anyhow, but I"d like to put her up, and you certainly could run down week-ends--possibly oftener.
American men are always obsessed with the idea that they are twice as busy as they really are."
"You are too good. I"ll put it up to Helene. Of course it is for her to decide. I"d like it mighty well." But grateful as he was, his uneasiness deepened at her evident desire to place her forces at his disposal.
CHAPTER V
I
"And you won"t take me to the party?" Helene pouted charmingly as her husband laid her pink taffeta wrap over her shoulders. "I thought you said you might make it, and it would be too delightful to dance with you once more."
"I"m afraid not. The Australian mail came in just as business closed and it"s on my mind. I want to go over it carefully before I dictate the answers in the morning, and that means two or three hours of hard work that will leave me pretty well f.a.gged out. Mrs. Thornton has offered to take you home."
"I hate her."
"Oh, please don"t!" Ruyler smiled into her somber eyes. "She wants the drive, and it would be taking the Gwynnes so far out of the way. Mrs.
Thornton very kindly suggested it."
"I hate her," said Helene conclusively. "I wish now I"d kept my own car.
Then I could always go home alone."
"You shall have a car next winter. And this time I shall not permit you to pay for it out of your allowance--which in any case I hope to increase by that time."
Her eyes flamed, but not with anger. "Then I"ll sell my electric to Aileen Lawton right away. We have the touring car in the country, and she has been trying to make her father buy her an electric--"
"I"m afraid you"ll be disappointed in your bargain. Second-hand cars, no matter what their condition, always go at a sacrifice, and old Lawton is a notorious screw. Better not let it go for two or three hundreds; you look very sweet driving about in it.... Oh, by the way--I had forgotten." He slipped his hand under her coat, unfastened the chain and slipped the jewel into his pocket. "I am sorry," he said, with real contrition, "and almost wish I had forgotten the thing; but I am a little superst.i.tious about keeping that old promise."
She laughed. "And yet you will not permit poor maman a little superst.i.tion of her own! But I am rather glad. Everybody at the ball will hear of the ruby, and I shall be able to keep them in suspense until the Thornton fete. Good night. Don"t work too hard. Couldn"t you get there for supper?"
""Fraid not."
II
He did go down to the office and glance through the Australian mail, but at a few moments before twelve he took a California Street car up to the Fairmont Hotel and went directly to the ballroom. Mrs.
Thornton was standing just within the doorway, but came toward him with lifted eyebrows.
"This is like old times," she said playfully.
"I found less mail than I expected and thought I would come and have a dance with my wife." His eyes wandered over the large room, gayly decorated, and filled with dancing couples.
Mrs. Thornton laughed. "A belle like your wife? She is always engaged for every dance on her program before she is halfway down this corridor."
"Oh, well, husbands have some rights. I"ll take it by force. I don"t see her--she must be sitting out."
Mrs. Thornton slipped her arm through his. "This dance has just begun.
Walk me up and down. I am tired of standing on one foot."
They strolled down the corridor and through the large central hall. Older folks sat or stood in groups; a few young couples were sitting out.
Ruyler did not see his wife, and concluded she had been resting at the moment in the dowager ranks against the wall of the ballroom. The music ceased sooner than he expected and Mrs. Thornton, who had been talking with animation on the subject of several fine pictures she had bought while abroad for the Museum in Golden Gate Park, including one by Masefield Price, broke off with an impatient exclamation: "Bother! I must run up to my room at once and telephone. Wait for me here."
She steered him toward a group of men. "Mr. Gwynne, keep Mr. Ruyler from causing a riot in the ballroom. He insists upon dancing with his wife.
Hold him by force."