CHAPTER XIII
OVER THE TEA AND THE TOAST
The next morning there were, at least, three eventful breakfasts"partaken of," as it was once the fashion to say; one at "TheWilderness," one at the Savoy, and one at the Kyneston town house inPrince's Gate.
When Professor Marmion came down he was a little late, for he had done along night's work, finishing his lecture-notes to his own satisfaction,or, at least, as nearly as he could get there. Like all good workers, hewas never quite satisfied with what he did. When the maid had closed thedoor of the breakfast-room, he looked across the table at his daughterwith a twinkle in his eyes, and said:
"Niti, before Lord Leighton left last night he had a talk with me, andyou were partly the subject of it."
"And who might have been the other part of the subject, Dad?" she asked,with excellently simulated composure.
"That, Niti," he replied slowly, "I expect you know quite as well as Ido. I am inclined to consider myself the victim of something very like aconspiracy."
"I think you are quite right, Dad," she replied, with perfect calmness."But the chief conspirators were the Fates themselves. We others onlydid as we had to do. When you have solved that problem of N to thefourth, I think you will see that we could really have done nothingelse, because, if you once crossed the border-line--the horizon whichProfessor Cayley spoke of, I mean--you ought to be on speaking termswith them."
Before he replied to this somewhat searching remark, the man who _had_crossed the horizon emptied his coffee cup, and set it down in thesaucer with a perceptible rattle. Then he said more slowly than before:
"My dear Niti, there are other mysteries than N to the fourth. I onlywish now to confess frankly to you that I have tried to solve one ofthem, perhaps the greatest of all, and ignominiously failed. I learnt agreat deal last night from a young man to whom I thought I could havetaught anything, and I got up this morning in a distinctly chastenedframe of mind; and so, to make a long story short, if you like to driveinto town and bring Commander Merrill back to lunch, I shall be verypleased to have a chat with him afterwards."
The next moment Nitocris was on the other side of the table, with herarm round her father's shoulders. She kissed him, and whispered:
"You dearest of dears! If I could have loved you any more, I would now,but I can't. I won't drive into town, because Brenda's coming out withLord Leighton in her new motor to fetch me; at least, she will, if otherpapas have been as delightful as you have been."
He put his hand up and stroked her cheek with a gesture that was olderthan she was, and said with a smile which meant more than she couldcomprehend:
"Ah! so it _was_ a conspiracy, after all! Well, dear, I hope that, forall your sakes, it will turn out a successful one."
About the same time Brenda was saying to her parents:
"Poppa and Mammy, I've got some news to tell you, and I've slept on it,so as to make quite sure about the telling."
"And what might that be, Brenda?" asked her mother, looking up a trifleanxiously. "Nothing very serious, I hope."
"Anything connected with the Marmions?" asked her father, in a voicethat sounded as though it had come from somewhere far away. He had the_Times_ propped up against the sugar basin on his left hand, and he hadjust read the announcement of Franklin Marmion's lecture for thefollowing evening, and this was quite a serious matter for him.
"It's connected with them in this way," said Brenda, leaning her elbowson the table. "You and Uncle have wanted a coronet in the family, andyou know that I've refused three, because the men who wore them weren'tfit to respect, to say nothing about loving. Well, I've just discoveredthat I do love a man who has one coronet now, and will have another someday, unless something unexpected happens to him; but mind, it's the manI love and want to marry, and I'd want to do it just the same if he wasstill the same man he is, and hadn't either a coronet or a dollar to hisname."
"That's like you, Brenda, and it sounds good," said her father, tearinghis attention away from the alluring title of Franklin Marmion'slecture. "Now, who is it?"
"If it was only that nice young man, Lord Leighton!" said Mrs vanHuysman, in a voice that sounded like an appeal against the finaljudgment of human fate, "but, of course, he's----"
"No, Mammy, that's just what he's _not_ going to do," exclaimed Brenda,sitting up and clasping her hands behind her neck. "Nitocris Marmion isin love with some one else, and Lord Leighton is in love with me--atleast he said so last night at 'The Wilderness,' and I don't supposehe'd have said it if he hadn't meant it--and I told him to go and askhis Papa: and now I'm going to ask my Poppa and Mammy if I may be LadyLeighton soon, and, perhaps, some day Countess of Kyneston. You see,Lord Leighton is just a viscount now----"
"What, just a viscount!" exclaimed Mrs van Huysman, getting up from herchair and putting a plump arm round her neck. "Just a viscount--and heirto one of the oldest peerages in England! Oh, Brenda, is it reallytrue?"
"I guess Brenda wouldn't say it if it wasn't, and that's about all thereis to it," said her father, putting his long arm out over the table. "Icongratulate you, my girl. Mammy and I may have been a bit troubled oversome of those other refusals of yours, but you seem to have known best,after all: and I reckon your Uncle Ephraim'll think the same. LordLeighton's a man right through. He wouldn't have done what he has doneif he hadn't been. Shake, child, and----"
Brenda "shook," and then, without another word, she got up and hurriedout of the room.
"The girl's right!" said Professor van Huysman, as the door closedbehind her; "and if I'm not a fool entirely, she's found the right man."
"Hoskins, you can leave that to a well-brought-up girl like Brenda allthe time. She _is_ right, and all we've got to hope for now is that theEarl will be right too," said his wife somewhat anxiously.
"He's just got to see our girl and then he will be, unless he's anatural born idiot, which, of course, he couldn't be," replied Brenda'sfather in a tone of absolute conviction. "Now, I wonder what that manMarmion's going to let loose on us to-morrow night?"
"Good morning, sir," said Lord Leighton, as his father came into thebreakfast-room at about the same time that Brenda left the other room inthe Savoy.
"Good morning, Lester," replied the Earl of Kyneston, as father and sonshook hands in the old courtly fashion which, within the last halfcentury, has gone out of vogue save among those who have ancestors whoserecord is a credit to their descendants. "You are looking very well andfit--and there is something else. What is it? Had you a very pleasantevening yesterday at 'The Wilderness'? Has Miss Marmion revoked herdecision after all?"
"No, sir," said his son, looking at him with brightening eyes; "but sheconvinced me that I had thought myself in love with the wrong girl--andthe other girl was on the lawn at the same time, talking with the manthat Miss Marmion was, and is in love with, and will be always, Ithink."
"And the other young lady, Lester--because, of course, she is a lady, Imean in our sense of the word, much misunderstood as it is in thesedays?"
"She is Brenda van Huysman, sir."
"Oh, the Professor's daughter.--I mean the other Professor's daughter. Avery good family. Her father is a distinguished man, and, if I rememberrightly, a Van Huysman was one of the first colonisers of New Englandabout four hundred years ago. It is the same family, I suppose?"
"Yes, sir; I can vouch for that."
Nitocris had given him the whole history of the family, and so he wassure of his facts.
"Lester, I congratulate you," replied his father, taking his arm, asthey were accustomed to. "While you have been away digging among thoseEgyptian tombs and temples, this girl has refused at least threecoronets, and one had strawberry leaves on it; so she loves you foryourself. That is good, other things being equal, as I think they willbe in this case. Now, we will go to breakfast, and you shall tell me thewhole story. I have not heard a real love story for a good many years."