Wingate found Josephine on his other side and was happy. Phipps was just across the table. His hostess proceeded to give the latter some of her attention.
"Mr. Phipps," she said, "they tell me you"ve taken that scoundrel of a nephew of mine--Dredlinton--into your business, whatever it is. He won"t do you any good, you know."
"I"m very sorry to hear that," Phipps replied. "He seemed to me rather a brainy person for his order."
"One for me," Lady Amesbury chuckled. "I don"t care. If I chose to come on the Stock Exchange, I"ve got brains enough to ruin most of you. But I don"t choose. I like to hear of the rest of you tearing yourselves to pieces, though. If you could keep Dredlinton out of mischief for a year, Mr. Phipps, I"d think you were the most wonderful man I ever met. He"s a bad lot, but I tolerate him because I love his wife."
Phipps scowled across the table to where Wingate"s head was nearly touching Josephine"s.
"Lady Dredlinton seems to be achieving great popularity in every direction," he said sourly.
"And a jolly good thing, too," Lady Amesbury declared. "If ever a woman earned the right to kick the traces away for a bit, Josephine has. Don"t you mind anything I say, my dear," she added, as Josephine looked up at the sound of her name. "You settle down to a nice comfortable flirtation, if you want to. You owe it to yourself, all right, and then there"s some coming to you. And I"m your husband"s aunt who tells you that."
"I"m not at all sure," Phipps observed, "that you don"t underrate your nephew"s ability."
"The only thing I know about his ability," was the blunt reply, "is his ability to borrow a few hundreds from any one fool enough to lend it to him, and then invent excuses for not paying it back. He"s good at that, if you like. Still, don"t let me set you against him, Mr.
Phipps. Every shilling he gets out of you and your company is so much saved to the family."
Lady Amesbury, who, notwithstanding her apparent inconsequence, had a keen eye for her guests, directed her conversation for a time into another channel, and finally changed places with Sarah in order to come into closer touch with a spiritualist from Sweden, who was on the lookout for a medium. Sarah turned appealingly toward Wingate.
"Jimmy and I want to be taken to the theatre to-morrow night," she announced. "He doesn"t get any money till Wednesday, and I haven"t earned enough this week to pay my garage bill."
"I"ll take you both," Wingate promised quickly, "if Lady Dredlinton will make a fourth."
"Delightful," Josephine a.s.sented.
"I have a box at the Opera," Phipps announced, leaning forward. "Give me the pleasure of entertaining you all."
Josephine shook her head.
"Tannhuser! I am sorry, Mr. Phipps, but I couldn"t possibly stand it.
Ask us another time, won"t you? To-morrow night," she went on, turning to Wingate, "let us be absolutely frivolous. A revue, I think."
"And dinner first at the Milan," Wingate insisted.
"And supper afterwards and a dance at Ciro"s," Sarah put in. "I must tell Jimmy the glad tidings."
Peter Phipps made his adieux to Lady Amesbury early and drove in his electric coupe first to Romano"s, then to the Milan and finally to Ciro"s. Here he found Dredlinton, seated in a corner by himself, a little sulky at the dancing proclivities of the young lady whom he had brought.
He greeted Phipps with some surprise.
"Hullo, Dreadnought!" he exclaimed. "What"s wrong with my garrulous aunt? Has the party broken up early or weren"t you a success?"
"I wasn"t a success," Phipps confessed grimly. "Look here, Dredlinton, are you sober enough to talk horse common sense?"
"Sober? My G.o.d, can you tell me how any one can get a drink here!" was the injured reply. "I was just off somewhere else. One bottle of champagne, if you please, between two of us, and the liqueur brandies were served with the soup. Call this--a Christian country!"
"Then if you"re sober, and for once you seem to be," Phipps said, "just listen to me. Listen hard, mind, and don"t interrupt. Have you ever wondered why I put you on the Board of the B.& I.?"
"My t.i.tle, I suppose--and social position."
"Rot!" Phipps answered scornfully. "Your t.i.tle and your social position aren"t worth a d.a.m.n to me. I put you on because of your wife."
Dredlinton stared at him.
"Why, you didn"t even know her!"
"Never mind. I knew her to look at. I wanted to know her. Now I do know her, and it hasn"t done me much good."
Dredlinton sat a little more erect in his place. Behind his cynical exterior, his evil brain had begun to work.
"Look here, Phipps," he said, "I don"t care about this conversation. If a man happens to admire another man"s wife, her husband is scarcely the proper confidant."
"Oh, yes, I know your theory!" Phipps scoffed. "You"re willing enough to hide your head in the sand and take the goods the G.o.ds send you. That doesn"t suit me. I happen to need your help."
"My help?" Dredlinton repeated. "The poor little spider to help the mighty Phipps! You"re not finding difficulties in the way of your suit, are you?"
"If I do, it will be the worse for you," was the gruff reply. "As you"re going on now, Dredlinton, it will be your wife, and your wife alone, who"ll keep you out of jail before many weeks are past. How about that cheque to Farnham and Company last week? Farnham"s say they never got it, but I hear it"s come back through the bank with a queer endors.e.m.e.nt upon it."
Dredlinton caught at the tablecloth. The malicious gleam in his eyes gave way to a look of positive fear.
"I can"t remember--anything here--without any books," he muttered.
"Tell me what it is you want, Phipps? I am ready to do any thing--you know that."
"Your wife"s friendship with this fellow Wingate has got to be nipped in the bud," Phipps declared.
"Yes, but how?" Dredlinton demanded. "Josephine and I aren"t anything to one another any more--you know that. She goes her own way."
"She lives in your house," Phipps said. "You remain her husband nominally and you have therefore a certain amount of authority. You must forbid her to receive Wingate."
"I"ll forbid her, all right," Dredlinton a.s.sented, "but I won"t guarantee that she"ll obey."
"Then you must give orders to the servants," Phipps insisted. "I don"t need to suggest to you, Dredlinton," he went on, "what means you should use to make your wife obey you, but there are means, and if you"re not the man to realise them, I"m very much surprised in you. I will begin with a concrete case. Your wife, together with that fellow Wilshaw and Miss Baldwin, have accepted an invitation from Wingate to dine and go to a theatre to-morrow night. You must see that your wife does not go."
"Very well," Dredlinton promised, "I"ll manage it somehow."
"See that you do," Phipps enjoined earnestly. "Your wife is one of those misguided women with a strong sense of duty. Unless you behave like a d.a.m.n fool, you can reestablish some measure of control over her. Do so.
There are certain circ.u.mstances," he went on, his face wrinkled a little with emotion, his voice deep and earnest, "there are certain circ.u.mstances, Dredlinton, under which I might be inclined to behave towards you with great generosity. I leave you to guess what those circ.u.mstances are. I will show you the way later on."
Dredlinton felt hope stir once more through his shocked and terrified senses. He lit a cigarette with fingers which had ceased to tremble, leaned a little back in his place and stared at his companion curiously.
"Phipps," he asked, "what the devil do you and this fellow Wingate see in my wife?"
"What a man like you would never look for," was the harsh reply.
CHAPTER XII