She considered this carefully. He had never known what it meant to have his wishes thwarted, and now he would move heaven and earth to win Anne Champneys. Well, but!--She liked Hayden, and she didn"t think, all things considered, that Anne Champneys could do better, if she wished to have her marriage to Peter annulled, than to marry Berkeley. But how would Jason consider such a move? Jason had been greatly attached to old Mr. Champneys. Indeed, his connection with that astute old wizard had just about doubled their income. Jason wouldn"t be likely to look with friendly eyes upon this bringing to naught, what he knew had been Champneys"s fondest scheme. She said, after a pause:
"Does Anne know?"
"Who knows what Anne knows? But on the face of it, I should say she doesn"t. At least, she doesn"t appear to. I have been very--circ.u.mspect," said he, moodily. And he added angrily: "She seems to regard me as a sort of cicerone, a perambulating, vocal Baedeker!"
Mrs. Vandervelde smiled openly. "It is your surest hold upon her. I shouldn"t cavil at it, if I were you. To Anne you are the sum total of human knowledge. Your dictum is the last word to be said about anything."
But Berkeley still looked sulky. The idea of being what Sydney Smith said Macaulay was--_a book in breeches_--didn"t appeal to him at all.
"What would you advise me to do?" he asked, after a pause.
She said reflectively: "Let her alone for a while, Berkeley. If her liking for you grows naturally into affection,--and it may, you know,--that would be best. If you try to force it, you may drive her from you altogether. I tell you frankly, she is not in the least interested in any man as a lover, so far as I can judge."
He was forced to admit the truth of this. She wasn"t. She seemed to dislike any faintest sign of loverliness from any man toward her.
Hayden had observed her icy att.i.tude toward the painter who had fancied he found in her his ideal Undine, and who showed too openly his desire to help her gain a soul for herself. The idea that she might look at him as she had looked at the painter was highly unpleasant to him. He asked again:
"But what am I to do?"
"Nothing," said Mrs. Vandervelde, succinctly.
"But suppose she falls in love with somebody else."
"She is more likely to fall in love with you, I should imagine, if you keep quiet for a while and allow her to do so. Just remain her guide, philosopher, and friend, can"t you?"
The clever, cosmopolitan Mr. Berkeley Hayden tugged at his short mustache and looked astonishingly like a sulky school-boy.
"Well, if you think that"s the best thing I can do--" he began.
"I know it is," said she. And she reflected that even the cleverest man, when he is really in love, is something of a fool.
Here Anne herself came in and the three dined together, a statuesque maid in a yellow bodice and a purple skirt waiting on them. Agata"s "Si?" was like a flute-note, and the two women loved to see her moving about their rooms. It was like having Hebe wait on them.
Anne turned to Hayden eagerly. She wished his opinion of a piece of tapestry an antiquarian in the Via Ricasoli wished to sell her.
Would he go and look at it with her? And there was an old lamp she fancied but of the genuineness of which she wasn"t sure. And she added, dropping her voice, that she"d gotten a copy of one of Fra Girolamo Savonarola"s sermons, beautifully done on vellum, evidently by some loving monkish follower of his. Didn"t he want to see it?
She looked at him eagerly. Mrs. Vandervelde, catching his eye, smiled.
Hayden played his part beautifully, concealing the tumult of his feelings under the polished surface of the serene manner that Anne so greatly admired. He made himself indispensable; he gave her his best, unstintedly, and Hayden at his best was inimitable. Marcia Vandervelde regarded him with new respect and admiration. Berkeley was really wonderful!
When he took his departure, Anne Champneys felt that the glamour of Florence had departed with him. It was as if the sunshine had been withdrawn, along with that polished presence, that gem-like mind.
She missed him to an extent that astonished her. She thought that even Giotto"s Campanile looked bleak, the day Berkeley Hayden left.
"I"m going to miss you hideously," she told him truthfully.
"I hope so," he said guardedly. He did not wish to show too plainly how overjoyed he was at that admission. "And I"m going to hope you"ll find me necessary in New York. I"m looking forward to seeing you in New York, you know. I have two new pictures I want you to see."
Her face brightened. "Your being there will make me glad to go back to New York," she said happily. And Hayden had to resist a wild impulse to shout, to catch her in his arms. He went away with hope in his heart.
But Mrs. Vandervelde, watching her closely, thought she was too open in her regret. N-no, Anne wasn"t in love with Hayden--yet. She picked up her studies, to which he had given impetus, with too hearty a zest. And when he wrote her amusing, witty, delightful letters, she was too willing to have Marcia read them.
They remained in Italy six months or so more; and then one day Anne returned from a picnic, and said to Marcia abruptly:
"Would you mind if I asked you to leave Florence,--if I should want to go home?"
Marcia said quietly: "No. If you wish to go, we will go. Are you tired of Italy?"
Anne Champneys looked at her with wide eyes. For a moment she hesitated, then ran to Marcia, and clung to her with her head against her friend"s shoulder.
"You"re so good to me--and I care so much for you,--I"ll tell you the truth," she said in a whisper. "I--I heard something to-day, Marcia,--_he"s_ coming to Rome--soon. And of course he"ll come here, too."
"He?--Who?"
"Peter Champneys," said Peter"s wife, and literally shook in her shoes. Her clasp tightened. Marcia put her arms around her, and felt, to her surprise, that Anne was frightened.
"You are sure?"
"Yes. I heard it accidentally, but I am sure. You know how pretty the Arno is at the spot where we picnicked. We strolled about, and I--didn"t want to talk to anybody, so I slipped away by myself.
There were a couple of English artists painting near by, and just as I came up I overheard what they were saying. Marcia,--they were talking about--_him_. They said he"d been called to Rome to paint somebody"s picture,--the pope"s, maybe,--and they"d probably see him here, later. They seemed to be--friends of his, from the way they spoke." She shivered. "Italy isn"t big enough to hold us two!" she said, desperately. "Marcia, I can"t--run the risk of meeting Peter Champneys. Not until I have to. I--I"ve got to get away!" Her voice broke.
"All right, dear. We"ll go," said Marcia, soothingly. "Jason"s about finished his work in Brazil, and he"ll be back in New York by this.
Do you want to go directly home?"
"Yes," said Anne Champneys. "Italy"s a very little place compared with America. Let"s go back to America, Marcia."
Mrs. Vandervelde stroked the red head. It seemed to her that fate was playing into Mr. Berkeley Hayden"s hands.
CHAPTER XVII
THE GUTTER-CANDLE
Although the Champneys house was tightly closed, with the upper door and windows boarded up, the blonde person in shoddy fineries rang the area bell on the chance that there must be a caretaker somewhere about the premises. She felt that when one has come upon such an errand as hers, one mustn"t leave any stone unturned; and she couldn"t trust to a haphazard letter. An impa.s.sive and immaculate j.a.panese opened the door, and stood looking at her without any expression at all. Had the blonde person baldly stated her errand, the j.a.panese would probably have closed the door and that would have been the end of it. But she didn"t speak; after a sharp glance at him she opened her gay hand-bag, extracted a slip of paper, handed it to him, and stood waiting.
The j.a.panese read: "I wish you"d do what you can, for my sake," and saw that it was addressed to Mr. Chadwick Champneys and signed by Mr. Peter Champneys. It had evidently been carefully kept, and for a long time, as the creases showed. The j.a.panese stood reflecting for a few moments, then beckoned the blonde person inside the house, ushering her into a very neat bas.e.m.e.nt sitting-room.
"For you?" he asked, glancing at the slip of paper.
"Me? No. I come for a lady friend o" mine. You might tell "em she"s awful sick an" scared,--just about all in, she is,--or she wouldn"t of sent. But he said she was to come here an" hand in that slip I"ve just gave you. That"s how I come to bring it."
"All right. You wait," said the j.a.panese, and glided from the room.
It was the first time Hoichi had received any message from the new master, as he knew Mr. Peter Champneys to be; if the message was genuine, he was sure that Mr. Chadwick Champneys, had he been alive, would have investigated it. Hoichi couldn"t imagine how the blonde person had gotten hold of such a slip of paper, signed by Mr. Peter Champneys. If there was some trick behind it, some ulterior motive underlying it, then Hoichi proposed to have the trickster taught a needed lesson. He was a suspicious man and visions of clever robbers planning a raid on the premises rose before him. He would run no risks, take no chances. He rang up Mr. Jason Vandervelde, fortunately caught the lawyer at home, and faithfully repeated the blonde person"s message. He insisted that the signature was genuine; he had seen many letters addressed to the late Mr. Champneys by his nephew, and he would recognize that writing anywhere. He asked to be instructed.
"Tell her to wait half an hour and I"ll be there," said the lawyer upon reflection.
The blonde person was leaning back in a Morris chair, tiredly, when Vandervelde was ushered into the bas.e.m.e.nt sitting-room. He recognized her type with something of a shock. She was what might be called--charitably--a peripatetic person, and she reeked of very strong perfume. The lawyer"s eyes narrowed, while he explained briefly that he represented the Champneys interests. Would she explain as concisely as possible just why and for whom she had come?