"Perhaps," he said, "you had some idea of consoling the desolate husband?"
"Perhaps I had," she answered coolly. "It didn"t come off, did it? Order me some coffee, and give me a cigarette, my friend. I have something else to say to you."
He obeyed her, and she leaned back in the high chair.
"Listen to me," she said. "I have nothing whatever to do with you and Lucille. I suppose you will get your revenge on Souspennier through her.
It won"t be like you if you don"t try, and you ought to have the game pretty well in your own hands. But I won"t have Souspennier harmed. You understand?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Souspennier," he said, "must take care. If he oversteps the bounds he must pay the penalty."
She leaned forward. There was a look in her face which he knew very well.
"You and I understand one another," she said coolly. "If you want me for an enemy you can have me. Very likely I shall tell you before long that you can do what you like with the man. But until I do it will be very dangerous for you if harm comes to him."
"It is no use," he answered doggedly. "If he attacks he must be silenced."
"If he attacks," she answered, "you must give me twenty-four hours clear notice before you move a hand against him. Afterwards--well, we will discuss that."
"You had better," he said, looking at her with an ugly gleam in his eyes, "persuade him to take you for a little tour on the Continent. It would be safer."
"If he would come," she said coolly, "I would go to-morrow. But he won"t--just yet. Never mind. You have heard what I wanted to say. Now shall we go? I am going to get some sleep this afternoon. Everybody tells me that I look like a ghost."
"Why not come to Grosvenor Square with me?" he leaning a little across the table. "Patoff shall make you some Russian tea, and afterwards you shall sleep as long as you like."
"How idyllic!" she answered, with a faint sarcastic smile. "It goes to my heart to decline so charming an invitation. But, to tell you the truth, it would bore me excessively."
He muttered something under his breath which startled the waiter at his elbow. Then he followed her out of the room. She paused for a few moments in the portico to finish b.u.t.toning her gloves.
"Many thanks for my lunch," she said, nodding to him carelessly. "I"m sure I"ve been a delightful companion."
"You have been a very tormenting one," he answered gloomily as he followed her out on to the pavement.
"You should try Lucille," she suggested maliciously.
He stood by her side while they waited for her carriage, and looked at her critically. Her slim, elegant figure had never seemed more attractive to him. Even the insolence of her tone and manner had an odd sort of fascination. He tried to hold for a moment the fingers which grasped her skirt.
"I think," he whispered, "that after you Lucille would be dull!"
She laughed.
"That is because Lucille has morals and a conscience," she said, "and I have neither. But, dear me, how much more comfortably one gets on without them. No, thank you, Prince. My coupe is only built for one.
Remember."
She flung him a careless nod from the window. The Prince remained on the pavement until after the little brougham had driven away. Then he smiled softly to himself as he turned to follow it.
"No!" he said. "I think not! I think that she will not get our good friend Souspennier. We shall see!"
CHAPTER XXIV
A barely furnished man"s room, comfortable, austere, scholarly. The refuge of a busy man, to judge by the piles of books and papers which littered the large open writing-table. There were despatch boxes turned upside down, a sea of parchment and foolscap. In the midst of it all a man deep in thought.
A visitor, entering with the freedom of an old acquaintance, laid his hand upon his shoulder and greeted him with an air of suppressed enthusiasm.
"Planning the campaign, eh, Brott? Or is that a handbook to Court etiquette? You will need it within the week. There are all sorts of rumours at the clubs."
Brott shook himself free from his fit of apathetic reflection. He would not have dared to tell his visitor where his thoughts had been for the last half hour.
"Somehow," he said, "I do not think that little trip to Windsor will come just yet. The King will never send for me unless he is compelled."
His visitor, an ex-Cabinet Minister, a p.r.o.nounced Radical and a lifelong friend of Brott"s, shrugged his shoulders.
"That time," he said, "is very close at hand. He will send for Letheringham first, of course, and great pressure will be brought to bear upon him to form a ministry. But without you he will be helpless.
He has not the confidence of the people."
"Without me," Brott repeated slowly. "You think then that I should not accept office with Letheringham?"
His visitor regarded him steadily for a moment, open-mouthed, obviously taken aback.
"Brott, are you in your right senses?" he asked incredulously. "Do you know what you are saying?"
Brott laughed a little nervously.
"This is a great issue, Grahame," he said. "I will confess that I am in an undecided state. I am not sure that the country is in a sufficiently advanced state for our propaganda. Is this really our opportunity, or is it only the shadow of what is to come thrown before? If we show our hand too soon all is lost for this generation. Don"t look at me as though I were insane, Grahame. Remember that the country is only just free from a long era of Conservative rule."
"The better our opportunity," Grahame answered vigorously. "Two decades of puppet government are enervating, I admit, but they only pave the way more surely to the inevitable reaction. What is the matter with you, Brott? Are you ill? This is the great moment of our lives. You must speak at Manchester and Birmingham within this week. Glasgow is already preparing for you. Everything and everybody waits for your judgment.
Good G.o.d, man, it"s magnificent! Where"s your enthusiasm? Within a month you must be Prime Minister, and we will show the world the way to a new era."
Brott sat quite still. His friend"s words had stirred him for the moment. Yet he seemed the victim of a curious indecision. Grahame leaned over towards him.
"Brott, old friend," he said, "you are not ill?"
Brott shook his head.
"I am perfectly well," he said.
Grahame hesitated.
"It is a delicate thing to mention," he said. "Perhaps I shall pa.s.s even the bounds of our old comradeship. But you have changed. Something is wrong with you. What is it?"
"There is nothing," Brott answered, looking up. "It is your fancy. I am well enough."
Grahame"s face was dark with anxiety.
"This is no idle curiosity of mine," he said. "You know me better than that. But the cause which is nearer my heart than life itself is at stake. Brott, you are the people"s man, their promised redeemer. Think of them, the toilers, the oppressed, G.o.d"s children, groaning under the iniquitous laws of generations of evil statesmanship. It is the dawn of their new day, their faces are turned to you. Man, can"t you hear them crying? You can"t fail them. You mustn"t. I don"t know what is the matter with you, Brott, but away with it. Free yourself, man."