"I am sure," she thought, "that he is good. He is so unlike the men one meets in society. They all seem to have something behind their words, some thought which is not quite simple and spontaneous, which informs all that they say. Nearly all of them are artificial, but the duke was quite natural and ordinary. I am so glad Gerald has such a nice friend, and he seemed quite pleased to come and stay with us when the term ends.
What a good idea it was that we proposed it. It seems odd, indeed, that the poor boy, with his great house in London and all the country seats, should stay at the _Carlton_ or the _Ritz_ when he comes to town.
Really, highly placed as he is, he is quite lonely. Well, we"ll do all we can to make him happy." Once more she said to herself: "It must be very nice for Gerald to have such a friend!" though even as she thought it she half realised that this was not precisely the sole spring and fountain of her satisfaction with the events of the afternoon.
At half-past six Lady Constance and her father met in the hall. In her long sable robe, and with a fleecy cloud of spun silk from China covering her head, she stood by the side of the earl, splendid in his coat of astrakhan and corded hat. All round them, in the hall of the _Randolph_, were people who were dressed for dinner standing and talking in groups.
Many heads nodded, and there were many whispers as the two stood there.
Every one knew that here was the famous young society beauty, Lady Constance Camborne, and that the majestic old man by her side was her father, the earl, and the Bishop of Carlton.
Then, as the swing doors burst open, and Lord Hayle, in a fur coat and a tweed cap, came bustling in, the onlookers whispered that this was the young viscount who would succeed to everything.
The hall porter, cap in hand, came up to the trio.
The car was waiting for his lordship.
The servants grouped around rushed to the doors. The muttering of the great red motor waiting outside became suddenly redoubled as the earl and his children left the hall. There was a little sigh, and then a buzz of talk, as the three distinguished people disappeared into the night opposite the Museum.
The dinner party at Sir Andrew Anderson"s was a somewhat ceremonious function, and was also rather dull.
The Scotch baronet was a "dour laird," who had been a member of the last Government, and the visit was one of those necessary and stately occasions to which people in the bishop"s position are subject.
Sir Andrew had no son, and his two daughters were learned girls, who had taken their degree at St. Andrew"s University, and looked upon Lady Constance as a mere society b.u.t.terfly, although they thawed a little when talking to Lord Hayle. It was all over about a quarter-past ten, much earlier than the bishop and Lady Constance had antic.i.p.ated.
The bishop"s suit-case had been put into the car, and Lady Constance also had her luggage. Nothing had been decided as to whether the Cambornes should stay the night or not, though the party had a.s.sumed that they would do so. As, however, at a little after ten the conversation languished, and everybody was obviously rather bored with everybody else, the bishop decided to return to Oxford with his son, and before the half-hour struck the great Mercedes car was once more rushing through the wintry Oxfordshire lanes towards the ancient City of Spires.
"Well," Lord Hayle said, "I have never in all my life, father, been to such a dull house, or been so bored. Didn"t you feel like that, too, Connie?"
"Indeed, I did, Gerald," the girl answered. "It was perfectly terrible!"
Slowly the bishop replied--
"I know, my dears, that it was not an enlivening entertainment, but Sir Andrew, you must remember, is a very solid man, and is well liked by the country. He will be in the Cabinet when this wretched Radical and Socialistic ministry meets the fate it deserves, and, you know, Hayle, that in our position, it is necessary to endure a good deal sometimes.
One must keep in with one"s own cla.s.s. We must be back to back, we must be solid. I have nothing to say against Sir Andrew, except that, of course, he is not a very intellectual man. At the same time, he is liked at court, and is, I believe," the bishop concluded with a chuckle, "one of the most successful breeders of short-horns in the three kingdoms."
The motor-car brought the party back into civilisation. It rolled up the High, past the age-worn fronts of the colleges, brilliantly illuminated now by the tall electric light standards. They flitted by St. Mary"s, where Cranmer made his great renunciation, past the new front of Brazenose, up to the now dismantled Carfax.
As they turned The Corn was almost deserted, in a flash they were abreast of the Martyrs" Memorial, and the car was at rest before the doors of Oxford"s great hotel.
The three entered the warm, comfortable hall.
"Good-night, father!" Lady Constance said "Good-night, Gerald, I shall go straight up-stairs!"
She kissed her father and brother, and turned to the right towards the lift.
"I think I will have a final smoke, father," Lord Hayle said, "before I go back to college. There"s lots of time yet. Shall we go upstairs, or shall we go into the smoking-room?"
"Oh, well, let us go into the smoking-room," said the bishop. "It"s a comfortable place."
They gave their coats to an attendant, and went through the door under the stairs into the smoking-room.
No one else was there, though a great fire burned upon the hearth, and drawing two padded armchairs up before it they sat down and lit their cigarettes.
"I think," said the bishop, "that I shall have a gla.s.s of Vichy. Will you have anything more, dear boy?"
"No, thanks, father," Lord Hayle answered, "but I will ring the bell for you."
He pressed the b.u.t.ton, and the waiter came into the room, shortly afterwards returning with the bishop"s aerated water.
Lord Hayle was well known at the _Randolph_. He sometimes gave dinners there, in preference to using the _Mitre_ or the _Clarendon_. He and the duke sometimes dined there together.
As he was sitting with his father, quietly talking over the events of the day, one of the managers of the hotel came hurriedly into the smoking-room and up to the earl and the viscount.
"My lord," he said, and his face was very white and agitated. "I fear I have very sad news for you."
There was something in the man"s voice that made both the bishop and his son turn round in alarm.
"What is it?" said Lord Hayle.
"My lord," the manager continued, "a telegram has just reached us that there has been a terrible railway accident to the six o"clock train from here to Paddington. We are informed that the Duke of Paddington, your friend, my lord, was in the train, and it is feared that his grace has been killed."
CHAPTER XI
THE DISCOVERY
It really was appalling!
All the others had seen this sort of thing many times, and it did not appeal to them with the same first flush of horror and dismay as it did to Mary Marriott.
She turned to Fabian Rose.
"Oh, Mr. Rose," she said, "it is dreadful, more dreadful than I could ever have thought!"
"There is much worse than this, my dear," he answered in a grave tone, from which all the accustomed mockery had gone. "A painful experience is before you, but you must endure it. At the end of that time----"
Mary looked into the great Socialist"s face, and she knew what his unspoken words would have conveyed. She knew well that she was on a trial, a test; that this strange expedition had been devised, not only that her art as an actress might be stimulated to its highest power, but that the very strings of her pity and womanhood should be touched also.
Her new friends knew well that when at last she was on the boards of the Park Lane Theatre, acting there for all the rich and fashionable world to see, her work could only accomplish its great mission with success if it came poignantly from her heart.
"Yes," she said in answer to his look, "I am beginning to see, I am beginning to hear the cry of the down-trodden and the oppressed, the wailing of the poor."
Rose nodded gravely.
"Now, Miss Marriott and gentlemen," said Inspector Brown, "we will turn down here, if you please. I should like to show you one or two tenements."
As he spoke he turned to the right, down a narrow alley. Tall, grimy old houses rose up on either side of them, and there was hardly room for two members of the party to walk abreast. The flags upon which they trod were soft with grease and filth. The air was foetid and chill. It was, indeed, as though they were treading a pa.s.sage-way to horror!
The whole party came out into a court, a sort of quadrangle some thirty yards by twenty. The s.p.a.ce between the houses and the floor of the quadrangle was of beaten earth, though here and there some half-uprooted flagstone showed that it had once been paved. The whole of it was covered with garbage and refuse. Decayed cabbage leaves lay in little pools of greasy water. Old boots and indescribable rags of filthy clothes were piled on heaps of cinders.