Of those three it was only Lady Kelsey who did not know that Lucy was deeply in love with Alec MacKenzie.
"Perhaps you"re inclined to be unjust to him," said Mrs. Crowley.
"We shall see if he has any answer to make," he answered coldly. "The evening papers are sure to get something out of him. The city is ringing with the story, and he must say something at once."
"It"s quite impossible that there should be anything in it," said Mrs.
Crowley. "We all know the circ.u.mstances under which George went out with him. It"s inconceivable that he should have sacrificed him as callously as this man"s letter makes out."
"We shall see."
"You never liked him, Bobbie," said Lady Kelsey.
"I didn"t," he answered briefly.
"I wish I"d never thought of giving this horrid dance," she moaned.
Presently, however, they succeeded in calming Lady Kelsey. Though both thought it unwise, they deferred to her wish that everything should be hidden from Lucy till the morrow. d.i.c.k Lomas was arriving from Paris that evening, and it would be possible then to take his advice. When at last Mrs. Crowley left the elder woman to her own devices, her thoughts went to Alec. She wondered where he was, and if he already knew that his name was more prominently than ever before the public.
MacKenzie was travelling down from Lancashire. He was not a man who habitually read papers, and it was in fact only by chance that he saw a copy of the _Daily Mail_. A fellow traveller had with him a number of papers, and offered one of them to Alec. He took it out of mere politeness. His thoughts were otherwise occupied, and he scanned it carelessly. Suddenly he saw the heading which had attracted Lady Kelsey"s attention. He read the letter, and he read the leading article.
No one who watched him could have guessed that what he read concerned him so nearly. His face remained impa.s.sive. Then, letting the paper fall to the ground, he began to think. Presently he turned to the amiable stranger who had given him the paper, and asked him if he had seen the letter.
"Awful thing, isn"t it?" the man said.
Alec fixed upon him his dark, firm eyes. The man seemed an average sort of person, not without intelligence.
"What do you think of it?"
"Pity," he said. "I thought MacKenzie was a great man. I don"t know what he can do now but shoot himself."
"Do you think there"s any truth in it?"
"The letter"s perfectly d.a.m.ning."
Alec did not answer. In order to break off the conversation he got up and walked into the corridor. He lit a cigar and watched the green fields that fled past them. For two hours he stood motionless. At last he took his seat again, with a shrug of the shoulders, and a scornful smile on his lips.
The stranger was asleep, with his head thrown back and his mouth slightly open. Alec wondered whether his opinion of the affair would be that of the majority. He thought Alec should shoot himself?
"I can see myself doing it," Alec muttered.
XV
A few hours later Lady Kelsey"s dance was in full swing, and to all appearances it was a great success. Many people were there, and everyone seemed to enjoy himself. On the surface, at all events, there was nothing to show that anything had occurred to disturb the evening"s pleasure, and for most of the party the letter in the _Daily Mail_ was no more than a welcome topic of conversation.
Presently Canon Spratte went into the smoking-room. He had on his arm, as was his amiable habit, the prettiest girl at the dance, Grace Vizard, a niece of that Lady Vizard who was a pattern of all the proprieties and a devout member of the Church of Rome. He found that Mrs. Crowley and Robert Boulger were already sitting there, and he greeted them courteously.
"I really must have a cigarette," he said, going up to the table on which were all the necessary things for refreshment.
"If you press me dreadfully I"ll have one, too," said Mrs. Crowley, with a flash of her beautiful teeth.
"Don"t press her," said Bobbie. "She"s had six already, and in a moment she"ll be seriously unwell."
"Well, I"ll forego the pressing, but not the cigarette."
Canon Spratte gallantly handed her the box, and gave her a light.
"It"s against all my principles, you know," he smiled.
"What is the use of principles except to give one an agreeable sensation of wickedness when one doesn"t act up to them?"
The words were hardly out of her mouth when d.i.c.k and Lady Kelsey appeared.
"Dear Mrs. Crowley, you"re as epigrammatic as a dramatist," he exclaimed. "Do you say such things from choice or necessity?"
He had arrived late, and this was the first time she had seen him since they had all gone their ways before Whitsun. He mixed himself a whisky and soda.
"After all, is there anything you know so thoroughly insufferable as a ball?" he said, reflectively, as he sipped it with great content.
"Nothing, if you ask me pointblank," said Lady Kelsey, smiling with relief because he took so flippantly the news she had lately poured into his ear. "But it"s excessively rude of you to say so."
"I don"t mind yours, Lady Kelsey, because I can smoke as much as I please, and keep away from the s.e.x which is technically known as fair."
Mrs. Crowley felt the remark was directed to her.
"I"m sure you think us a vastly overrated inst.i.tution, Mr. Lomas," she murmured.
"I venture to think the world was not created merely to give women an opportunity to wear Paris frocks."
"I"m rather pleased to hear you say that."
"Why?" asked d.i.c.k, on his guard.
"We"re all so dreadfully tired of being G.o.ddesses. For centuries foolish men have set us up on a pedestal and vowed they were unworthy to touch the hem of our garments. And it _is_ so dull."
"What a clever woman you are, Mrs. Crowley. You always say what you don"t mean."
"You"re really very rude."
"Now that impropriety is out of fashion, rudeness is the only short cut to a reputation for wit."
Canon Spratte did not like d.i.c.k. He thought he talked too much. It was fortunately easy to change the conversation.
"Unlike Mr. Lomas, I thoroughly enjoy a dance," he said, turning to Lady Kelsey. "My tastes are ingenuous, and I can only hope you"ve enjoyed your evening as much as your guests."