"Charity begins at home, gentlemen, and I"m here to look out for myself.
No one else will, let me tell you that. I want to get the deposition of every person in the chateau. They can be sworn to before Mr. Bowles, who is a magistrate, I"m told. He can marry people and--"
"By Jove!" exclaimed Deppingham suddenly. "Can he? Upon my soul!"
"His manner changed as soon as that horrid little wife of Selim came to the chateau. I don"t like the way she makes eyes at him and I told him so this morning, down in the storerooms. My, but he flew up! He said he"d be d.a.m.ned if he"d marry me." She began to use her handkerchief vigorously. The men smiled as they looked away.
"I--I intend to sue him for breach of promise," she said thickly.
"Is it as bad as all that?" asked Deppingham consolingly.
"What do you mean by "bad as all that"? He"s kissed me time and again, but that"s all."
"I"ll send for Saunders," said Deppingham sternly.
"Not while I"m here," she exclaimed, getting up nervously.
"Just as you like, Miss Pelham. I"ll send for you after we"ve talked it over with Saunders. We can"t afford a scandal in the chateau, don"t you know."
"No, I should think not," she said pointedly. Then she looked at Chase and winked, with a meaning nod at the un.o.bserving Deppingham. Chase followed her into the hall.
"None of that, Miss Pelham," he said severely.
Saunders came in a few minutes later, nervous and uncomfortable.
"You sent for me, my lord," he said weakly.
"Sit down, Saunders. Your knees seem to be troubling you. Miss Pelham is going to sue you for breach of promise."
"Good Lord!"
"What have you promised her, sir?"
"That I _wouldn"t_ marry her, that"s all, sir," floundered Saunders.
"She"s got no right to presume, sir. Gentlemen always indulge in little affairs--flirtations, I might say, sir--it"s most common. Of course, I thought she"d understand."
"Don"t you love her, Saunders?"
"Oh, I say, my lord, that"s rather a pointed question. My word, it is, sir! There may have been a bit of--er--well, you know--between us, sir, but--that"s all, that"s quite all. Absurdly all, "pon my soul."
"Saunders," said Britt solemnly, "I am her attorney. Be careful what you say in my presence."
"Britt," said Saunders distinctly, "you are a blooming traitor! You told me yourself that she was used to all that sort of thing and wouldn"t mind. Now, see what you do? It"s--it"s outrageous!" He was half in tears. Then turning to Deppingham, he went on fiercely, "I won"t be bullyragged by any woman, sir. We got along beautifully until she began to shy figurative pots at me because Selim"s wife looked at me occasionally. Hang it all, sir, I can"t help it if the ladies choose to look at me. Minnie--Miss Pelham--was perfectly silly about it. Good Lord," he groaned in recollection. "It was a very trying scene she made, sir. More than ever, it made me realise that I can"t marry beneath me.
You see, my lord, we"ve got a fairish sort of social position out Hammersmith way--as far out as Putney, I might say, where we have rather swell friends, my mother and I--and I don"t think--"
"Saunders," said Lord Deppingham sternly, "she loves you. I don"t understand why or how, but she does. Just because you have obtained an exalted social position at Hammersmith Bridge is no reason you should become a sn.o.b. I daresay she stands just as well at Brooklyn Bridge as you do at Hammersmith. She"s a fine girl and would be an adornment to you, such as Hammersmith could be proud of. If you want my candid opinion, Saunders, I think you"re a silly a.s.s!"
"Do you really, my lord?" quite humbly.
"Shall I prove it to you by every man on the place? Miss Pelham is quite good enough for any one of us. I"d be proud to have her as my wife--if I lived at Hammersmith Bridge."
"You amaze me, sir!"
"She"s a very pretty girl," volunteered Chase glibly.
"Oh, she could marry like a flash in New York," said Britt. "A dozen men I know of are crazy about her. Good-looking chaps, too," The sarcasm escaped Saunders, who was fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Of course--you know--the breaking of the engagement--I should say the row, wasn"t of my doing," he submitted, pulling at his finger joints nervously.
"I"m afraid it can"t be patched up, either," said Britt dolefully.
"She"s been insulted, you see--"
"Insulted? My eye! I wouldn"t say anything to hurt her for the world. I may have been agitated--very likely I said a sharp word or two. But as for insulting her--never! She"s told me herself a thousand times that she doesn"t mind the word "d.a.m.n" in the least. That may have misled me--"
"Saunders, we can"t have our only romance marred by a breach of promise suit," said his lordship resolutely. "There is simply got to be a wedding in the end or the whole world will hate us. Every romance must have its young lovers, and even though it doesn"t run smooth, love will triumph. So far you have been our prize young lover. You are the undisputed hero. Don"t spoil everything at the last moment, Saunders.
Patch it up, and let"s have a wedding in the last chapter. You should not forget that it was you who advocated multi-marriage. Try it once for yourself, and, if you like it, by Jove, we"ll all come to your succeeding marriages and bless you, no matter how many wives you take unto yourself."
Saunders, very much impressed by these confidences, bowed himself out of the room, followed by Britt, of whom he implored help in the effort to bring about a reconciliation. He was sorely distressed by Britt"s apparent reluctance to compromise the case without mature deliberation.
"You see, old chap," mused Deppingham, after their departure, "matrimony is no trifling thing, after all. No matter whether it contemplates a garden in Hammersmith or an island in the South Seas, it has its drawbacks."
The charity ball began at ten o"clock, schedule time. If all of those who partic.i.p.ated were not in perfect sympathy with the spirit of the mad whim, they at least did not deport themselves after the fashion of wet blankets. To be quite authentic, but two of the promoters were heartily involved in the travesty--Lady Agnes, whose sprightliness was never dormant, and Bobby Browne, who shone in the glamour of his first encounter with the n.o.bility. Drusilla Browne, a.s.serting herself as an American matron, insisted that the invitation list should include the lowly as well as the mighty. She had her way, and as a result, the bank employes, the French maids, Antoine and the two corporals of Rapp-Thorberg"s Royal Guard appeared on the floor in the grand march directly behind Mr. Britt, Mr. Saunders, and Miss Pelham.
"One cannot discriminate at the charity ball," Drusilla had stoutly maintained. "The _hoi polloi_ and the riff-raff always get in at home.
So, why not here? If we"re going to have a charity ball, let"s give it the correct atmosphere."
"I shall feel as if I were dancing with my green grocer," lamented Lady Agnes. Later on, when the dancing was at its height, she exclaimed with all the fervour of a charmed imagination: "I feel as the d.u.c.h.ess de What"s-her-name must have felt, Bobby, when she danced all night at her own ball, and then dressed for the guillotine instead of going to bed.
We may all be shot in the morning."
The Indian fakirs and showmen gave a performance in the courtyard at midnight. They were followed by the Bedouin tumblers and the inspired Persians, who danced with frantic abandon and the ripe l.u.s.t of joy.
There was but one unfortunate accident. Mr. Rivers, formerly of the bank, got very tight and fell down the steps leading to the courtyard, breaking his left arm.
Lord Deppingham and Chase kept their heads. They saw to it that the watch over the grounds and about the chateau was strictly maintained.
The former led the grand march with the Princess. She was more ravishingly beautiful than ever. Her gown, exquisitely cool and simple, suggested that indefinable, unmistakable touch of cla.s.s that always marks the distinction between the woman who subdues the gown and the gown which subdues the woman.
Hollingsworth Chase was dazzled. He discovered, much to his subsequent amus.e.m.e.nt, that he was holding his breath as he stared at her from the opposite side of the banquet hall, which had been transformed into a ballroom. She had just entered with the Deppinghams. Something seemed to shout coa.r.s.ely, scoffingly in his ear: "Now, do you realise the distance that lies between? She was made for kings and princes, not for such as you!"
He waited long before presenting himself in quest of the dance he hungered for so greedily--afraid of her! She greeted him with a new, brighter light in her eyes; a quiver of delight, long in restraint, came into her voice; he saw and felt the welcome in her manner.
The blood surged to his head; he mumbled his request. Then, for the first time, he was near to holding her close in his arms--he was clasping her fingers, touching her waist, drawing her gently toward his heart. Once, as they swept around the almost empty ballroom, she looked up into his eyes. Neither had spoken. His lips parted suddenly and his fingers closed down upon hers. She saw the danger light in his eyes and knew the unuttered words that struggled to his lips and stopped there.
She never knew why she did it, but she involuntarily shook her head before she lowered her eyes. He knew what she meant. His heart turned cold again and the distance widened once more to the old proportions.
He left her with Bobby Browne and went out upon the cool, starlit balcony. There he gently cursed himself for a fool, a dolt, an idiot.
The shouts of laughter and the clapping of hands on the inside did not draw him from his unhappy reverie. He did not know until afterward that the official announcement of the engagement of Miss Minnie Pelham and Thomas Saunders was made by Bobby Browne and the health of the couple drunk in a series of b.u.mpers.
Chase"s bitter reflections were at last disturbed by a sound that came sharply to his attention. He was staring moodily into the night, his cigarette drooping dejectedly in his lips. The noise came from directly below where he stood. He peered over the stone railing. The terrace was barely ten feet below him; a ma.s.s of bushes fringed the base of the wall, dark, thick, fragrant. Some one was moving among these stubborn bushes; he could hear him plainly. The next moment a dark figure shot out from the shadows and slunk off into night, followed by another and another and yet others, seven in all. Chase"s mind refused to work quickly. He stood as one petrified for a full minute, unable to at once grasp the meaning of the performance.
Then the truth suddenly dawned upon him. The prisoners had escaped from the dungeon!