"They will be all on one side--when they see it. The question is, Will they see it soon enough?"
Being so interested I didn"t notice that our immediate neighbors were listening, nor did I observe, what Cissie Boscobel told me afterward, that Hugh was dividing disquieting looks between me and his father. I did try to divert Mr. Thorne to giving his attention to Mrs. Burke, who was his neighbor on the right, but I couldn"t make him take the hint. It was, in fact, he who said:
"We"ve too many old grudges against England to keep step with her now."
I smiled engagingly.
"But you"ve no old grudges against the British Empire, have you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You"ve no old grudges against Canada, or Australia, or the West Indies, or New Zealand, or the Cape?"
"N-no."
"Nor even against Scotland or Wales or Ireland?"
"N-no."
"You recognize in all those countries a spirit more or less akin to your own, and one with which you can sympathize?"
"Y-yes."
"Then isn"t that my point? You speak of England, and you see the southern end of an island between the North Sea and the Atlantic; but that"s all you see. You forget Scotland and Ireland and Canada and Australia and South Africa. You think I"m talking of a country three thousand miles away, whereas it comes right up to your doors. It"s on the borders of Maine and Michigan and Minnesota, and all along your line. That isn"t Canada alone; it"s the British Empire. It"s the country with which you Americans have more to do than with any other in the world. It"s the one you have to think of first. You may like some other better, but you can"t get away from having it as your most pressing consideration the minute you pa.s.s your own frontiers. That," I declared, with a little laugh, "is what makes my entente important."
"Important for England or for America?" Mr. Russky, as a citizen of the country he thought had most to give, was on his guard.
"Important for the world!" I said, emphatically. "England and America--the British Empire and the United States--are both secondary in what I"m trying to say. I speak of them only as the two that can most easily line up together. When they"ve done that the rest will follow their lead. It"s not to be an offensive and defensive alliance, or directed against any other power. It would be a starting-point, the beginning of world peace. It would also be an instance of what could be accomplished in the long run among all the nations of the world by mutual tolerance and common sense."
As I made a little mock oratorical flourish there was a laugh from our part of the table. Some one sitting opposite called out, "Good!" I distinctly heard Mrs. Billing"s cackle of a "Brava!" I ought to say, too, that, afraid of even the appearance of "holding forth," I had kept my tone lowered, addressing myself to my left-hand companion. If others stopped talking and listened it was because of the compulsion of the theme. It was a burning theme. It was burning in hearts and minds that had never given it a conscious thought; and, now that for a minute it was out in the open, it claimed them. True, it was an occasion meant to be kept free from the serious; but even in Newport we were beginning to understand that occasions kept free from the serious were over--perhaps for the rest of our time.
After that the conversation in our neighborhood became general. With the exception of Hugh, who was not far away, every one joined in, aptly or inaptly, as the case might be, with pros and cons and speculations and anecdotes and flashes of wit, and a far deeper interest than I should have predicted. As Mrs. Brokenshire whispered after we regained the drawing-room, it had made the dinner go; and a number of women whom I hadn"t known before came up and talked to me.
But all that was only the curtain-raiser. It was not till the family were a.s.sembled in Mildred"s room up-stairs that the real play began.
CHAPTER XXV
Mildred"s big, heavily furnished room was as softly lighted as usual. As usual, she herself, in white, with a rug across her feet, lay on her couch, withdrawn from the rest. She never liked to have any one near her, unless it was Hugh; she never entered into general talk. When others were present she remained silent, as she did on this evening.
Whatever pa.s.sed through her mind she gave out to individuals when she was alone with them.
The rest of the party were scattered about, standing or sitting. There were Jack and Pauline, Jim and Ethel Rossiter, Mrs. Billing, Mrs.
Brokenshire, Cissie Boscobel, who was now staying with the Brokenshires, and Hugh. The two banker guests had gone back to the smoking-room. As I entered, Mr. Brokenshire was standing in his customary position of command, a little like a pasha in his seraglio, his back to the empty fireplace. With his handsome head and stately form, he would have been a truly imposing figure had it not been for his increased stoutness and the occasional working of his face.
I had come up-stairs with some elation. The evening might have been called mine. Most of the men, on rejoining us in the drawing-room, had sought a word with me, and those who didn"t know me inquired who I was.
I could hardly help the hope that Mr. Brokenshire might see I was worth my salt, and that on becoming a member of his family I should bring my contribution.
But on the way up-stairs Hugh gave me a hint that in that I might be mistaken.
"Well, little Alix, you certainly gave poor old dad a shock this time."
"A shock?" I asked, in not unnatural astonishment.
"Your fireworks."
"Fireworks! What on earth do you mean?"
"It"s always a shock when fireworks go off too close to you; and especially when it"s in church."
As we had reached the door of Mildred"s room, I searched my conduct during dinner to see in what I had offended.
It is possible my entry might have pa.s.sed unnoticed if Mrs. Brokenshire, with the kindest intentions, had not come forward to the threshold and taken me by the hand. As if making a presentation, she led me toward the august figure before the fireplace.
"Our little girl," she said, in the hope of doing me a good turn, "distinguished herself to-night, didn"t she?"
He must have been stung to sudden madness by the sight of the two of us together. In general he controlled himself in public. He was often cruel, but with a quiet subtle cruelty to which even the victims often didn"t know how to take exception. But to-night the long-gathering fury of pa.s.sion was incapable of further restraint. Behind it there was all the explosive force of a lifetime of pride, complacence, and self-love.
The exquisite creature--a vision of soft rose, with six strings of pearls--who was parading her bargain, as you might say, without having paid for it, excited him to the point of frenzy. I saw later, what I didn"t understand at the time, that he was striking at her through me.
He was willing enough to strike at me, since I was the n.o.body who had forced herself into his family; but she was his first aim.
Having looked at me disdainfully, he disdainfully looked away.
"She certainly gave us an exhibition!" he said, with his incisive, whip-lash quietude.
Mrs. Brokenshire dropped my hand.
"Oh, Howard!"
I think she backed away toward the nearest chair. I was vaguely conscious of curious eyes in the dimness about me as I stood alone before my critic.
"I"m sorry if I"ve done anything wrong, Mr. Brokenshire," I said, meekly. "I didn"t mean to."
He looked over my head, speaking casually, as one who takes no interest in the subject.
"All the great stupidities have been committed by people who didn"t mean to--but there they are!"
I continued to be meek.
"I didn"t know I had been stupid."
"The stupid never do."
"And I don"t think I have been," I added, with rising spirit.
Though there was consternation in the room behind me, Mr. Brokenshire merely said: