He smiled, amused against his will.
Again she laughed, like a child who has been praised.
"Oh, it"s quite true!" she added. "I could tell you of dozens of cases----"
But her flow of confidence was suddenly terminated. Valentine Serracauld, catching sight of her through the throng of people, had made a hasty way towards her. His finely cut colourless face was animated and his dark grey eyes looked excited.
"How d"you do?--how d"you do, Mrs. Milbanke?" he exclaimed. "Please congratulate me! I"ve had a run of luck! Netted seventy pounds!"
Clodagh"s lips parted.
"Seventy pounds!" she said breathlessly, and instinctively she turned to Gore. But Gore"s place was empty. At Serracauld"s approach, he had moved unostentatiously away.
At the knowledge that he was gone, a sense of disappointment fell upon her. She glanced uncertainly at Deerehurst.
The old peer, who had been a cynical observer of the little scene, gave a thin laugh.
"Our friend Gore is fearful of contamination," he said, glancing at his nephew.
Serracauld laughed.
"Gore!" he said contemptuously. "Oh, Gore and I never did chum up! But where have you been hiding yourself all day?" He turned again to Clodagh. "We have had dark suspicions that old Barny has been buying up your society with Stock Exchange tips. Come, now, confess!" He paused and laughed, looking with intent admiration into her expressive face.
And Clodagh--sailing upon the tide of present things, elated by the eager interest of two men, and excited by the grudging interest of a third--forgot that, for every frail craft such as hers, there is an ultimate harbour to be gained, a future to be reckoned with. She lifted her head, met Serracauld"s searching glance, and echoed his inconsequent laugh.
CHAPTER X
The next day Clodagh made one of a party to the Lido, and the same night accompanied Lady Frances Hope, Deerehurst, and Serracauld to a theatre; but on neither occasion did she meet, or even see, Sir Walter Gore.
On the afternoon of the second day, however, he again appeared upon the scene of her interests, and in an unexpected manner.
The hour was six; and she, with Barnard and Milbanke, was seated on the hotel terrace, chatting desultorily in the warmth of the early evening.
While they talked, a gondola glided up to the hotel steps; and in the glow of the waning sun, they saw Gore step from the boat, pause to give some order to the gondolier, and then mount the stone steps.
They all three saw him simultaneously. Clodagh, to her own annoyance, coloured; and Barnard smiled in his observant, quizzical fashion.
"I didn"t tell you that Gore was coming to see me this afternoon, Mrs.
Milbanke," he said in an undertone. "I had a fancy that you might run away."
The flush on Clodagh"s face deepened.
"Run away?" she exclaimed in angry haste.
But Barnard rose without replying, and went forward to meet his visitor.
Having greeted his host, Gore turned to Clodagh.
"How d"you do, Mrs. Milbanke?" he said, raising his hat. Then he looked interrogatively at Milbanke.
Barnard made a sweeping gesture.
"My old friend Mr. James Milbanke!" he said. "James, Sir Walter Gore!"
Milbanke looked up quickly; and the younger man held out his hand with a pleasant touch of cordiality.
"How d"you do, sir?" he said. "Are you making a long stay in Venice?"
With a friendly movement, he pulled forward one of the wicker chairs and seated himself beside Milbanke.
Clodagh, leaning far back in her own long, low seat, looked at him curiously. Unconsciously the remembrance of Serracauld"s careless manner upon a similar occasion of first introduction recurred to her mind, coupled with the knowledge of Barnard"s contemptuous idea of her husband--his fads and his peculiarities. What could this man see to attract him in a dry archaeologist of twice his age? She found herself waiting intently for his next remark--his next action.
"Are you making a long stay?" he repeated, settling himself in his chair.
Milbanke, surprised and pleased at the unexpected attention, sat up stiffly in his seat.
"Oh no!" he said--"no! We are leaving in three or four days. I--I am interested in antiquity, and should, properly speaking, be in Sicily at the present moment. Perhaps you have heard of the very remarkable researches that are being carried on there?"
Gore smiled.
"No, I"m afraid I must confess ignorance. I know disgracefully little about the past."
Barnard, fearing a dissertation from Milbanke, interrupted with a laugh.
"I"m afraid most of us find the present more alluring!"
He cast a swift glance at Clodagh.
But Clodagh, still annoyed with him, and with herself--still puzzled by Gore"s att.i.tude--lifted her head sharply.
"At least," she said, "we can be sure that the present is genuine."
Gore turned and looked at her.
"Are you quite sure of that, Mrs. Milbanke?" he asked quietly. "Don"t you think there is trickery and deception in the manufacture of many things besides the antique?"
Her glance faltered.
"I have seen a lot of unauthentic relics," she said with a touch of obstinacy.
"And I, a lot of unauthentic life."
He looked at her with a slight smile. The smile stung her unreasonably.