Freddie poked the fire scientifically, and a.s.sisted it with coal.
"It"s this way," he said. "Of course, dear old Derek"s the finest chap in the world."
"I know that," said Jill softly. She patted Freddie"s hand with a little gesture of grat.i.tude. Freddie"s devotion to Derek was a thing that always touched her. She looked thoughtfully into the fire, and her eyes seemed to glow in sympathy with the glowing coals. "There"s n.o.body like him!"
"But," continued Freddie, "he always has been frightfully under his mother"s thumb, you know."
Jill was conscious of a little flicker of irritation.
"Don"t be absurd, Freddie. How could a man like Derek be under anybody"s thumb?"
"Well, you know what I mean!"
"I don"t in the least know what you mean."
"I mean, it would be rather rotten if his mother set him against you."
Jill clenched her teeth. The quick temper which always lurked so very little beneath the surface of her cheerfulness was stirred. She felt suddenly chilled and miserable. She tried to tell herself that Freddie was just an amiable blunderer who spoke without sense or reason, but it was no use. She could not rid herself of a feeling of foreboding and discomfort. It had been the one jarring note in the sweet melody of her love-story, this apprehension of Derek"s regarding his mother. The Derek she loved was a strong man, with a strong man"s contempt for other people"s criticism; and there had been something ign.o.ble and fussy in his att.i.tude regarding Lady Underhill. She had tried to feel that the flaw in her idol did not exist. And here was Freddie Rooke, a man who admired Derek with all his hero-worshipping nature, pointing it out independently. She was annoyed, and she expended her annoyance, as women will do, upon the innocent bystander.
"Do you remember the time I turned the hose on you, Freddie," she said, rising from the fender, "years ago, when we were children, when you and that awful Mason boy--what was his name? Wally Mason--teased me?" She looked at the unhappy Freddie with a hostile eye. It was his blundering words that had spoiled everything. "I"ve forgotten what it was all about, but I know that you and Wally infuriated me and I turned the garden hose on you and soaked you both to the skin. Well, all I want to point out is that, if you go on talking nonsense about Derek and his mother and me, I shall ask Parker to bring me a jug of water, and I shall empty it over you! Set him against me! You talk as if love were a thing any third party could come along and turn off with a tap! Do you suppose that, when two people love each other as Derek and I do, that it can possibly matter in the least what anybody else thinks or says, even if it is his mother? I haven"t got a mother, but suppose Uncle Chris came and warned me against Derek ..."
Her anger suddenly left her as quickly as it had come. That was always the way with Jill. One moment later she would be raging; the next, something would tickle her sense of humor and restore her instantly to cheerfulness. And the thought of dear, lazy old Uncle Chris taking the trouble to warn anybody against anything except the wrong brand of wine or an inferior make of cigar conjured up a picture before which wrath melted away. She chuckled, and Freddie, who had been wilting on the fender, perked up.
"You"re an extraordinary girl, Jill! One never knows when you"re going to get the wind up."
"Isn"t it enough to make me get the wind up, as you call it, when you say absurd things like that?"
"I meant well, old girl!"
"That"s the trouble with you. You always do mean well. You go about the world meaning well till people fly to put themselves under police protection. Besides, what on earth could Lady Underhill find to object to in me? I"ve plenty of money, and I"m one of the most charming and attractive of Society belles. You needn"t take my word for that, and I don"t suppose you"ve noticed it, but that"s what Mr Gossip in the _Morning Mirror_ called me when he was writing about my getting engaged to Derek. My maid showed me the clipping. There was quite a long paragraph, with a picture of me that looked like a Zulu chieftainess taken in a coal-cellar during a bad fog. Well, after that, what could anyone say against me? I"m a perfect prize! I expect Lady Underhill screamed with joy when she heard the news and went singing all over her Riviera villa."
"Yes," said Freddie dubiously. "Yes, yes, oh, quite so, rather!"
Jill looked at him sternly.
"Freddie, you"re concealing something from me! You _don"t_ think I"m a charming and attractive Society belle! Tell me why not and I"ll show you where you are wrong. Is it my face you object to, or my manners, or my figure? There was a young bride of Antigua, who said to her mate, "What a pig you are!" Said he, "Oh, my queen, is it manners you mean, or do you allude to my fig-u-ar?" Isn"t my figuar all right, Freddie?"
"Oh, _I_ think you"re topping."
"But for some reason you"re afraid that Derek"s mother won"t think so. Why won"t Lady Underhill agree with Mr Gossip?"
Freddie hesitated.
"Speak up!"
"Well, it"s like this. Remember I"ve known the old devil ..."
"Freddie Rooke! Where do you pick up such expressions? Not from me!"
"Well, that"s how I always think of her! I say I"ve known her ever since I used to go and stop at their place when I was at school, and I know exactly the sort of things that put her back up. She"s a what-d"you-call-it."
"I see no harm in that. Why shouldn"t the dear old lady be a what-d"you-call-it? She must do _something_ in her spare time."
"I mean to say, one of the old school, don"t you know. And you"re so dashed impulsive, old girl. You know you are! You are always saying things that come into your head."
"You can"t say a thing unless it comes into your head."
"You know what I mean," Freddie went on earnestly, not to be diverted from his theme. "You say rummy things and you do rummy things. What I mean to say is, you"re impulsive."
"What have I ever done that the sternest critic could call rummy?"
"Well, I"ve seen you with my own eyes stop in the middle of Bond Street and help a lot of fellows shove along a cart that had got stuck. Mind you, I"m not blaming you for it ..."
"I should hope not. The poor old horse was trying all he knew to get going, and he couldn"t quite make it. Naturally, I helped."
"Oh, I know. Very decent and all that, but I doubt if Lady Underhill would have thought a lot of it. And you"re so dashed chummy with the lower orders."
"Don"t be a sn.o.b, Freddie."
"I"m not a sn.o.b," protested Freddie, wounded. "When I"m alone with Parker--for instance--I"m as chatty as dammit. But I don"t ask waiters in public restaurants how their lumbago is."
"Have you ever had lumbago?"
"No."
"Well, it"s a very painful thing, and waiters get it just as badly as dukes. Worse, I should think, because they"re always bending and stooping and carrying things. Naturally one feels sorry for them."
"But how do you ever find out that a waiter has _got_ lumbago?"
"I ask him; of course."
"Well, for goodness sake," said Freddie, "if you feel the impulse to do that sort of thing tonight, try and restrain it. I mean to say, if you"re curious to know anything about Parker"s chilblains, for instance, don"t enquire after them while he"s handing Lady Underhill the potatoes! She wouldn"t like it."
Jill uttered an exclamation.
"I knew there was something! Being so cold and wanting to rush in and crouch over a fire put it clean out of my head. He must be thinking me a perfect beast!" She ran to the door. "Parker! Parker!"
Parker appeared from nowhere.
"Yes, miss?"
"I"m so sorry I forgot to ask before. How are your chilblains?"
"A good deal better, miss, thank you."
"Did you try the stuff I recommended?"
"Yes, miss. It did them a world of good."