Viviette, coming in later in hat and jacket, found him busily writing.
He looked up at her admiringly as she stood against the background of light framed by the great French window.
"Am I presentable?" she asked, with a smile, interpreting his glance.
"Each modification of your dress makes you seem more bewitching than the last."
"I trimmed this hat myself," she said, coming into the room, and looking at herself in a Queen Anne mirror on the wall.
"That"s why it"s so becoming," said Austin.
She wheeled round on him with a laugh. "You really ought to say something cleverer than that!"
"How can I," he replied, "when you drive my wits away?"
"Poor me," she said. And then, suddenly, "Where"s d.i.c.k?"
"What do you want d.i.c.k for?"
"He promised to take me for a drive." She consulted the watch on her wrist. "It"s past eleven now."
"I"m afraid poor d.i.c.k is rather upset. He seems to have been counting on being nominated to stand for the Rural District Council, and the imbeciles invited me instead."
"Oh, how could they?" she cried, smitten with a great pity. "How could they be so stupid and cruel? I know all about it. He told me yesterday.
He must be bitterly disappointed."
Austin did not tell her of Lord Banstead"s tactful explanation of the committee"s action. He was a fastidious man, and did not care to soil his mind with the memory of Banstead"s existence. If he had described the scene, the young man"s vulgarity, his own attempt at conciliation, and d.i.c.k"s pa.s.sionate outburst--the course of the drama that was shaping itself might have been altered. But the stars in their courses were fighting against d.i.c.k. Austin only said:
"If we get him this appointment, it will be ample compensation, anyhow."
"Please don"t say "if,"" exclaimed Viviette, "we must get it."
"Unless Lord Overton has already found a man, which is unlikely, owing to the general suspension of business at Whitsuntide, it"s practically a certainty."
"When shall we know?"
"My letter"s written and is waiting for the post. If he replies by return we shall hear the day after to-morrow."
"That is such a long time to wait. Do you know what to-morrow is?"
"Wednesday," said Austin.
"It"s d.i.c.k"s birthday." She clapped her hands at a happy inspiration, and hung on his arm. "Oh, Austin! If we could only give him the appointment as a birthday present!"
Her touch, her fresh charm, the eagerness in her eyes roused him to unwonted enthusiasm. In his sane moments he did not care a fig for anybody"s birthday. What man ever does? He proclaimed the splendour of her idea. But how was it to be realised?
"Send a long prepaid telegram to Lord Overton, of course," said Viviette triumphantly. (How unresourceful are men!) "Then we can get an answer to-day."
"You forget the nearest telegraph office is at Witherby, seven miles off."
"But d.i.c.k and I are going for a drive. I"ll make him go to Witherby and I"ll send the telegram. Write it."
She drew him in her caressing way to the table, seated him in the chair, and laid the block of telegram forms before him. He scribbled industriously, and when he had finished handed her the sheets.
"There!"
He fished in his pockets for money, but Viviette checked him. She was the fairy G.o.dmother in this fairy tale, and fairy G.o.dmothers always held the purse. She glanced again at her watch. It was ten minutes past eleven.
"Perhaps he"s waiting with the trap for me all the time. Au revoir."
"I"ll see you off," said Austin.
They went together into the hall and opened the front door. The new mare and the dog-cart in charge of the stable lad were there, but no d.i.c.k.
"Where"s Mr. Ware?"
"Don"t know, miss."
Then the Devil entered into Viviette. There is no other explanation. The Devil entered into her.
"We must get to Witherby and back before lunch. You drive me over instead of d.i.c.k."
They exchanged glances. Austin was young. He was in love with her. d.i.c.k had committed the unpardonable offence of being late. It would serve him right.
"I"ll come," said he, disappearing in search of cap and gloves.
Viviette went into the hall and scribbled a note.
"Dear d.i.c.k,--You"re late. Austin and I have the most important business to transact at Witherby, so he"s driving me over. We"re preparing a great surprise for you.--Viviette."
"Give this to Mr. Ware," she said to the stable boy as she prepared to get into the dog-cart.
The boy touched his cap and ran to open the gate. Viviette lightly mounted by Austin"s side. They had just turned into the road when d.i.c.k came racing through the hall and saw them disappear. He walked up the drive, and met the boy coming down, who handed him the note, with some words, which he did not hear. He watched the boy out of sight. Then he tore the note unread into tiny fragments, stamped them furiously into the mould of the nearest bed, and, flying into his armoury, threw himself into a chair and cursed the day that ever Austin was born.
CHAPTER III
KATHERINE
The drive was a memorable one for many reasons. First the new mare flew along at an exhilarating trot, as if showing off her qualities to her new masters. Then the morning sunshine flooded the soft, undulating Warwickshire country, and slanted freshly through the bordering elms in sweet-scented lanes. Summer flaunted its irresponsible youth in the faces of matronly, red-brick Manor House, old grey church, and crumbling cottage, danced about among the crisp green leaves, kissed the wayside flowers, and tossing up human hearts in sheer gaiety, played the very deuce with them. The drive also had its altruistic side. They were on an errand of benevolence. Austin, his mind conscious of nothing but right, felt the unusual glow of unselfish devotion to another"s interests. When he had awakened that morning he had had misgivings as to the advisability of sending d.i.c.k to another hemisphere. After all, d.i.c.k was exceedingly useful at Ware House, and saved him a great deal of trouble.
An agent would have to be appointed to replace him, whose salary--not a very large one, in view of the duties to be performed, but still a salary--would have to be provided out of his, Austin"s, pocket. Who, again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother? Viviette would stay at home for some little time; but she would be marrying one of these fine days--a day which Austin had reasons for hoping would not be very remote. He would have to make Heaven knows what arrangements for Mrs. Ware and the general upkeep of the Manor House, while he was in London carrying on his profession. Decidedly, d.i.c.k had been a G.o.dsend, and his absence would be a calamity. In sending him out to Vancouver Austin had all the unalloyed, pure pleasure of self-sacrifice.
They talked of d.i.c.k and d.i.c.k"s birthday and d.i.c.k"s happiness most of the way to Witherby. The telegram despatched, prepaid with the porterage by Viviette, Austin felt that he had done his duty by his brother, and deserved some consideration on his own account. And here it was that the summer began its game with their hearts. On such sportive occasions it is not so much what is said that matters. A conversation that might be entirely conventional between comparative strangers in a fog may become the most romantic interchange of sentiment imaginable between intimates in the sunshine. There are tones, there are glances, there are half-veiled allusions, there are--in a dog-cart, especially when it jolts--thrilling contacts of arm and arm. There is man"s undisguised tribute to beauty; there is beauty"s keen feminine appreciation of the tribute. There is a manner of saying "we" which counts for more than the casual conjunction of the personalities.
"This is _our_ day, Viviette," said Austin. "I shall always remember it."