"Boy ought to go to school," growled Lord Pontefract.
Lady Kingsmead shrugged her shoulders. "Of course he ought," she a.s.sented shrilly, "but what am I to do? He simply won"t go, will you, Tommy?"
"No, I believe in self-education. The intelligent child gleans more from the company and conversation of his elders----" Gravely he paused and gazed round the table at the meaningless faces of most of those present.
The Ca.s.sowary burst into a scream of laughter. "Oh, Tommy, you _are_ such a quaint little being," she cried; "isn"t he, Gerald?"
"Beastly child. Kingsmead always was an a.s.s, but no one would have believed that even _he_ could be such an imbecile as to leave that boy entirely in his wife"s hands."
"_So_ ducky, I always think him, though not pretty," returned the Ca.s.sowary.
As they left the dining-room Kingsmead whispered to his sister, "I say, Bicky, look out for Ponty. He"s a bit boiled."
CHAPTER THREE
"If I do, they will say that I am in love with some man who either won"t have me, or is already married, or that I am forced to, by my debts. If I don"t--then this will go on indefinitely, and some fine day I shall jump into the carp-pond and drown in four feet of nasty, slimy water."
Brigit Mead stood behind the heavy curtains by an open window and whispered the above reflections to herself. It was a trick she had in moments of intense concentration, and the sharp, hissing sound of the last words was so distinct that she involuntarily turned to see that she had not been overheard.
No, it was all right, everyone was busy with the preparations for the evening"s work, except Joyselle, who sat at the piano and was playing, very softly, a little thing of Grieg"s.
The great hall looked almost empty in spite of its nine occupants, and the electric lamps threw little pools of light on the polished floor.
It might have been a cheerless place enough, for one unintelligent Georgian Kingsmead had added to its austerity of church-like painted windows a very awful row of glossy marble pillars, that stood as if aware of their own ugliness, holding up a quite unnecessary and appallingly hideous gallery.
Luckily, however, the late Lord Kingsmead, while not possessing enough initiative to do away with the horrors perpetuated by his ancestors, was a man of some taste, and had, by the means of gorgeous Eastern carpets, skilful overhead lighting, and some fine hangings, transformed the place into a very comfortable and livable one.
A huge fire burned under the splendid carved chimney-piece, and Brigit, turning from the cool moonlight to the interior, watched it with a certain sense of artistic pleasure. It was a dear old house, Kingsmead, and with money--oh, yes, oh, yes, money! When Tommy was grown, what kind of a man would he be? She shuddered.
And there, staring at her across a table on which he was leaning to perfect his not quite faultless balance, stood Pontefract, money, so far as she was concerned, personified.
He owned mines in Cornwall, a highly successful motor-factory, a big London newspaper, a house in Grosvenor Square, and Pomfret Abbey.
Also he owned an ever-thirsting palate, a fat red neck, red-rimmed eyes, and a bald head.
She looked at him with the absent-minded deliberation that so annoyed many people. He was rather awful in many ways, but he was a kind man, his temper was good, and he would doubtless be an amiable, manageable husband.
"Brigit,--let"s go out, I,--there is something I want to tell you." His voice shook a little with real emotion, and though he had undoubtedly drunk more than was good for him, there was about the man a certain dignity, compounded of his breeding, his respect for her, and his sincerity.
She did not move, and her small, narrow face went white. He would take her--wherever she asked him; she would be able to fly away from her mother and her mother"s friends. After a long pause, which he bore well, she bowed her head slowly. "Yes, I will get a scarf," and leaving him she left the room. Her face was set and a little sullen as she came back with a long silk scarf on her arm. Carron met her near the door. "Made up your mind, have you?" he asked, with deliberate insolence. "Better wait till to-morrow, my dear--he"s half drunk."
She hated Carron. Hated him with an intensity that few women know. At that moment she would have liked to kill him. But knowing a better weapon, and rejoicing in her cruelty, she used it. "Poor old Gerald,"
she said, smiling at him, "no man over fifty can afford the luxury of jealousy."
Then she joined Pontefract.
He made his proposal succinctly and well, and without any confusion she accepted him. "No--you may not kiss me to-night," she added. "You may come for that--to-morrow. Now would you mind going? I--I want to be alone."
Quite humbly, hardly daring to believe in his good fortune, he left her, and she wandered aimlessly over the gra.s.s towards the carp-pond. "Nasty, slimy water," she said aloud, "you have lost me!"
Joyselle had stopped playing, and through the open windows only a very subdued murmur of voices came. Even Bridge has its uses. The night was perfect, and the serene moon sailed high under a sc.r.a.p of cloud like a wing. The old house, most beautiful, looked, among its surrounding trees, secluded and protected.
"It looks like a home," thought the girl bitterly.
And then young Joyselle joined her.
"May I come? Shall I bother you?"
"You may come; and you never bother me."
His youthful face was pleasant to look at; the dominating expression of it was one of sunny sweetness. Would Tommy grow to be as nice a young man?
Tommy, that old person, was, she knew, perched astride a chair near the Bridge table, picking up, with uncanny shrewdness, all sorts of tips about the great game, as he picked up knowledge about everything that came his way. Up to this, his varied stock of information had not hurt him. Later--who could tell?
"Where is Tommy?" she asked miserably.
"Watching the Bridge. Why are you unhappy?" His dark eyes were bent imploringly on hers. "I--I can"t bear to see you suffer."
"Oh, _mon Dieu, je ne souffre pas_! That is saying far too much. I----"
"Was it Pontefract?"
"No, oh, no. Ponty and I are very good friends," she returned absently.
And then she remembered. She was going to marry Ponty!
"Let"s walk to the sun-dial and see what time it is by the moon," she suggested abruptly.
But at the sun-dial he insisted further, always gentle and apologetic, but always bent on having an answer to his question.
"You are not going to marry him?" he asked.
"Who told you I was?"
"No one."
"Oh!"
"Well, _are_ you?"
His head fairly swam as he looked at her in the full moonlight. "What made you think of it?" she returned.
"Tommy--told me not to interrupt you--and him."
"Well--it"s true."