VI
DULCIE
One warm afternoon late in spring, Dulcie Soane, returning from school to Dragon Court, found her father behind the desk, as usual, awaiting his daughter"s advent, to release him from duty.
A tall, bony man with hectic and sunken cheeks and only a single eye was standing by the desk, earnestly engaged in whispered conversation with her father.
He drew aside instantly as Dulcie came up and laid her school books on the desk. Soane, already redolent of Grogan"s whiskey, pushed back his chair and got to his feet.
"G"wan in f"r a bite an" a sup," he said to his daughter, "while I talk to the gintleman."
So Dulcie went slowly into the superintendent"s dingy quarters for her mid-day meal, which was dinner; and between her and a sloppy scrub-woman who cooked for them, she managed to warm up and eat what Soane had left for her from his own meal.
When she returned to the desk in the hall, the one-eyed man had gone.
Soane sat on the chair behind the desk, his face over-red and shiny, his heels drumming the devil"s tattoo on the tessellated pavement.
"I"ll be at Grogan"s," he said, as Dulcie seated herself in the ancient leather chair behind the desk telephone, and began to sort the pile of mail which the postman evidently had just delivered.
"Very well," she murmured absently, turning around and beginning to distribute the letters and parcels in the various numbered compartments behind her. Soane slid off his chair to his feet and straightened up, stretching and yawning.
"Av anny wan tilliphones to Misther Barres," he said, "listen in."
"What!"
"Listen in, I"m tellin" you. And if it"s a lady, ask her name first, and then listen in. And if she says her name is Quellen or Dunois, mind what she says to Misther Barres."
"Why?" enquired Dulcie, astonished.
"Becuz I"m tellin" ye!"
"I shall not do that," said the girl, flushing up.
"Ah, bother! Sure, there"s no harm in it, Dulcie! Would I be askin" ye to do wrong, asth.o.r.e? Me who is your own blood and kin? Listen then: "Tis a woman what do be botherin" the poor young gentleman, an" I"ll not have him f"r to be put upon. Listen, m"acushla, and if airy a lady tilliphones, or if she comes futtherin" an" muttherin" around here, call me at Grogan"s and I"ll be soon dishposen" av the likes av her."
"Has she ever been here--this lady?" asked the girl, uncertain and painfully perplexed.
"Sure has she! Manny"s the time I"ve chased her out," replied Soane glibly.
"Oh. What does she look like?"
"G.o.d knows--annything ye don"t wish f"r to look like yourself! Sure, I disremember what make of woman she might be--her name"s enough for you. Call me up if she comes or rings. She may be a dangerous woman, at that," he added, "so speak fair to her and listen in to what she says."
Dulcie slowly nodded, looking at him hard.
Soane put on his faded brown hat at an angle, fished a cigar with a red and gold band from his fancy but soiled waistcoat, scratched a match on the seat of his greasy pants, and sauntered out through the big, whitewashed hallway into the street, with a touch of the swagger which always characterised him.
Dulcie, both hands buried in her ruddy hair and both thin elbows on the desk, sat poring over her school books.
Graduation day was approaching; there was much for her to absorb, much to memorise before then.
As she studied she hummed to herself the air of the quaint song which she was to sing at her graduation exercises. That did not interfere with her concentration; but as she finished one lesson, cast aside the book, and opened another to prepare the next lesson, vaguely happy memories of her evening party with Barres came into her mind to disturb her thoughts, tempting her to reverie and the delicious idleness she knew only when alone and absorbed in thoughts of him.
But she resolutely put him out of her mind and opened her book.
The hall clock ticked loudly through the silence; slanting sun rays fell through the street grille, across the tessellated floor where flies crawled and buzzed.
The Prophet sat full in a bar of sunlight and gravely followed the movements of the flies as though specialising on the study of those amazing insects.
Tenants of Dragon Court pa.s.sed out or entered at intervals, pausing to glance at their letter-boxes or requesting their keys.
Westmore came down the eastern staircase, like an avalanche, with a cheery:
"h.e.l.lo, Dulcie! Any letters? All right, old dear! If you see Mr.
Mandel, tell him I"ll be at the club!"
Corot Mandel came in presently, and she gave him Westmore"s message.
"Thanks," he said, not even glancing at the thin figure in the shabby dress too small for her. And, after peering into his letter-box, he went away with the indolent swing of a large and powerful plantigrade, gazing fixedly ahead of him out of heavy, oriental eyes, and twisting up his jet black, waxed moustache.
A tall, handsome girl called and enquired for Mr. Trenor. Dulcie returned her amiable smile, unhooked the receiver, and telephoned up.
But n.o.body answered from Esme Trenor"s apartment, and the girl, whose name was Damaris Souval, and whose profession varied between the stage and desultory sitting for artists, smiled once more on Dulcie and sauntered out in her very charming summer gown.
The shabby child looked after her through the sunny hallway, the smile still curving her lips--a sensitive, winning smile, untainted by envy.
Then she resumed her book, serenely clearing her youthful mind of vanity and desire for earthly things.
Half an hour later Esme Trenor sauntered in. His was a sensitive nature and fastidious, too. Dinginess, obscurity--everything that was shabby, tarnished, humble in life, he consistently ignored. He had ignored Dulcie Soane for three years: he ignored her now.
He glanced indifferently into his letter-box as he pa.s.sed the desk.
Dulcie said, with the effort it always required for her to speak to him:
"Miss Souval called, but left no message."
Trenor"s supercilious glance rested on her for the fraction of a second, then, with a bored nod, he continued on his way and up the stairs. And Dulcie returned to her book.
The desk telephone rang: a Mrs. Helmund desired to speak to Mr.
Trenor. Dulcie switched her on, rested her chin on her hand, and continued her reading.
Some time afterward the telephone rang again.
"Dragon Court," said Dulcie, mechanically.
"I wish to speak to Mr. Barres, please."