Clodagh"s mood was inexplicable even to herself as she entered the hotel, ran upstairs to her own room, and began to dress for dinner.
She changed her dress with an almost feverish haste, giving herself no time for thought; and then, scarcely waiting to take a final look into the mirror, left the room and hurried down into the hall. There she encountered Barnard.
"I have just been speaking to your husband," he said, greeting her with a smile. "He has been lured into attending some secret conclave of Italian scientists. He asked me to make his excuses to you."
Clodagh"s glance fell.
"Oh!" she said with a curious little inflection of the voice.
"Of course he knew that you were going out to-night?"
"Oh yes! Of course!" She still kept her lashes lowered.
Barnard smiled.
"Mrs. Milbanke," he exclaimed in a cheerful voice, "suppose we have a gay evening! Lord Deerehurst has asked me to dine with him and Serracauld at the "Abbati." Let"s form an even party! The old man will be absolutely charmed; and you have never dined at a restaurant. Say I may arrange it!"
For a moment longer Clodagh studied the ground; then very quickly she raised her eyes, and in their depths Barnard read a new expression.
"After all," she said tentatively, "why shouldn"t we take what comes our way?"
He extended his hands.
"Why, indeed? Let me spread the good news?"
Again she let her lashes droop.
"Very well!" she said--"very well! Say that I want to enjoy myself."
The dignified and placid serenity of Venice had been intruded upon that season by the establishment of a fashionable dining-place, which, under the name of the Abbati Restaurant, had taken up its position in a beautiful old house on one of the narrower waterways.
Its distance from Clodagh"s hotel was short; and the journey thither--taken in Lord Deerehurst"s gondola, in company with the old peer, Serracauld, and Barnard--occupied but a few minutes. Clodagh"s first impression, on gliding up the still, dark waterway and stepping out upon the time-worn garden steps, was one of delight. And as she stood for a moment in the shadow of the ancient wall, above which the tree-tops rose, casting black reflections into the water that ran beneath them, she was conscious of the subtle touch of the warm night wind upon her face; of the subtle poetry in the scent of unseen flowers; of the subtle invitation conveyed by the long row of lighted windows, seen through a screen of magnolias.
She had momentarily forgotten her companions, when Deerehurst--the last to leave the gondola--stepped softly to her side.
"This appeals to you?" he said.
She started slightly at his unexpected nearness; then, with a quick impetuosity, she responded to his question.
"I think it is exquisite," she said. "The light through the trees suggests such wonderful, mysterious things."
He smiled under cover of the darkness.
"It suggests an enchanted banquet. Let us find the presiding genius!"
He laid his fingers lightly on her arm and guided her up the long, dim garden.
Followed by Serracauld and Barnard, they traversed the shadowy pathways and emerged upon an open s.p.a.ce of lawn that fronted the house.
Three or four of the private rooms were already occupied; and with the faint streams of light that poured from their open windows, came the pleasant murmuring of talk and laughter.
As the little party stepped into the radius of this light, a stately personage came forward deferentially; and, recognising Deerehurst, made a profound bow.
The old n.o.bleman nodded amiably, as to an acquaintance of long standing, and, drawing the man aside, addressed him in French.
The explanation was brief, and almost at once Deerehurst turned back to his companions.
"Come, Mrs. Milbanke!" he said. "Our friend Abbati proves amenable to persuasion. He will give us his prettiest room--though we are unexpected guests."
Clodagh stepped forward with eager curiosity.
"I never thought a restaurant could be like this," she said.
"Very few of them are, Mrs. Milbanke," murmured Barnard, close behind her. "The usual restaurant is an ostentatious place of white enamel, palms, and lights, where a hundred tongues are vainly endeavouring to drown a band. This little corner will scarcely outlive another season.
It"s too perfect--too quiet to find favour with the crowd. It was opened under the patronage--rather, at the suggestion--of Prince Menf, a sybarite millionaire temporarily out of sorts with Paris. But now Paris smiles once more; Menf has wearied of Venice; and poor Abbati begins to tremble."
Clodagh looked round.
"But could anything so exquisite be a failure?"
"Easily, my dear lady! People like to eat their expensive dinners where others can comment on their extravagance! It"s a very vulgar world!"
The three men laughed; and Clodagh, slightly distressed, slightly puzzled, stepped through the wide hall to the room that Deerehurst indicated.
It was a small chamber, long and narrow in shape. The walls were panelled in faded brocade, and the lights were shrouded in silk of some soft hue; the floor was covered with a carpet in which wreathed roses formed the chief design; and the furniture consisted of one oval table, four beautiful old chairs, and a couple of ancient French mirrors. As Deerehurst stepped forward to relieve Clodagh of her cloak, four waiters entered noiselessly; and almost immediately dinner was served.
It was a dinner such as Prince Menf would have delighted in. There was nothing tedious, nothing monotonous in the six or seven courses that comprised its menu; each stimulated and gratified the appet.i.te, without a hint of satiety. It was an Epicurean feast. And it was interesting to study the varying ways in which the guests responded to its appeal.
Barnard--placid man-of-the-world, indulgent connoisseur of all the luxuries--openly lingered over the delights of the meal; Serracauld ate quickly and almost greedily, as many men of slight build, and thin, sensual faces do eat; Deerehurst alone toyed with his food, giving serious attention to nothing beyond the dry toast with which he was kept supplied; while Clodagh--young enough and healthy enough to have an appet.i.te that needed no tempting--frankly enjoyed her dinner, without at all comprehending its excellence.
During the first portion of the meal, conversation was fitful and impersonal; but as the waiters left the table to carry in one of the last dishes, the tone of the intercourse underwent a change. Deerehurst turned to Clodagh with a sudden gesture of concern and intimacy.
"I see you do not endorse my choice of wine!" he said in a gently solicitous voice.
She looked up with slight confusion; then looked down at her untouched gla.s.s, in which the champagne bubbles were rapidly subsiding.
"I--I never drink champagne," she said a little diffidently.
"Oh, Mrs. Milbanke! And my poor uncle has been sacking the Abbati cellars for this particular vintage!" Serracauld glanced up quickly and almost reproachfully.
Barnard laughed, as he blissfully drained his own gla.s.s.
"You are really very unkind, Mrs. Milbanke," he murmured. "You make one feel such a deplorable worldling."
But Deerehurst looked round towards a waiter who was re-entering the room.
"Bring this lady another gla.s.s and some more champagne!" he said.