"Poor boy! Of course you haven"t. Nice young men never have any money."
"So I don"t get many chances of seeing her."
"And I might arrange meetings for you? That"s how I could help? Now, why should I help?"
Evan was encouraged by this last question, put in his friend"s doubtfully-serious doubtfully-playful manner.
"It needn"t," he said, in a tone rather more timid than young Sir Walter would have expected, "make any difference to our friendship, need it? If it meant that----"
The sentence was left in expressive incompleteness.
Mrs. Dennison wanted to laugh; but why should she hurt his feelings? He was a pleasant boy, and, in spite of his vanity, really a clever one. He had been a little spoilt; that was all. She turned her laugh in another direction.
"Berthe Cormack would tell you that it would be sure to intensify it,"
she said. "Seriously, I shan"t hate you for marrying, and I don"t suppose Marjory will hate me."
"Then" (Mrs. Dennison had to smile at that little word), "you"ll help me?"
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Dennison, allowing her smile to become manifest.
"You won"t be against me?"
"Perhaps not."
"Good-bye," said Evan, pressing her hand.
He had enjoyed himself very much, and Mrs. Dennison was glad that she had been good-natured, and had not laughed.
"Good-bye, and I hope you"ll be very happy, if you succeed.
And--Evan--don"t kill Mr. Ruston!"
The laugh came at last, but he was out of the door in time, and Mrs.
Dennison had no leisure to enjoy it fully, for, the moment her visitor was gone, Mr. Belford and Lord Semingham were announced. They came together, seeking Harry Dennison. There was a "little hitch" of some sort in the affairs of the Omof.a.ga Company--nothing of consequence, said Mr. Belford rea.s.suringly. Mrs. Dennison explained that Harry Dennison had gone off to call on Mr. Ruston.
"Oh, then he knows by now," said Semingham in a tone of relief.
"And it"ll be all right," added Belford contentedly.
"Mr. Belford," said Mrs. Dennison, "I"m living in an atmosphere of Omof.a.ga. I eat it, and drink it, and wear it, and breathe it. And, what in the end, is it?"
"Ask Ruston," interposed Semingham.
"I did; but I don"t think he told me."
"But surely, my dear Mrs. Dennison, your husband takes you into his confidence?" suggested Mr. Belford.
Mrs. Dennison smiled, as she replied,
"Oh, yes, I know what you"re doing. But I want to know why you"re doing it. I don"t believe you"ll ever get anything out of it, you know."
"Oh, directors always get something," protested Semingham. "Penal servitude sometimes, but always something."
"I"ve never had such implicit faith in any undertaking in my life,"
a.s.serted Mr. Belford. "And I know that your husband shares my views.
It"s bound to be the greatest success of the day. Ah, here"s Dennison!"
Harry came in wiping his brow. Belford rushed to him, and drew him to the window, b.u.t.ton-holing him with decision. Lord Semingham smiled lazily and pulled his whisker.
"Don"t you want to hear the news?" Mrs. Dennison asked.
"No! He"s been to Ruston."
Mrs. Dennison looked at him for an instant with something rather like scorn in her eye. Lord Semingham laughed.
"I"m not quite as bad as that, really," he said.
"And the others?" she asked, leaning forward and taking care that her voice did not reach the other pair.
"He turns Belford round his fingers."
"And Mr. Carlin?"
"In his pocket."
Mrs. Dennison cast a glance towards the window.
"Don"t go on," implored Semingham, half-seriously.
"And my husband?" she asked in a still lower voice.
Lord Semingham protested with a gesture against such cross-examination.
"Surely it"s a good thing for me to know?" she said.
"Well--a great influence."
"Thank you."
There was a pause for an instant. Then she rose with a laugh and rang the bell for tea.
"I hope he won"t ruin us all," she said.
"I"ve got Bessie"s settlement," observed Lord Semingham; and he added after a moment"s pause, "What"s the matter? I thought you were a thoroughgoing believer."
"I"m a woman," she answered. "If I were a man----"
"You"d be the prophet, not the disciple, eh?"