CHAPTER X.
THE WOES OF A CHAPERON.
The time is out of joint--O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right!
Felicia came home from the ball in far less high spirits than her_protegee_. Things had not gone as she wished, nor had Maud behaved atall in the manner which Felicia had pictured to herself as natural andappropriate to a young lady making her _debut_ in polite society.Instead of displaying an interesting timidity and clinging to herchaperon for guidance and protection, Maud had taken wing boldly atonce, as in a congenial atmosphere, had been far too excited to be inthe least degree shy and had lent herself with indiscreet facility to avery pronounced flirtation. Felicia began to realise how hard it is tomake the people about one be what one wants them to be, and how full ofdisappointment is the task of managing mankind, even though the fractionoperated upon be no larger than a wayward school-girl's heart. Maud,whose rapidly-increasing devotion to Sutton had for days past been atheme of secret congratulation in Felicia's thoughts, had been behavingall the evening just in the way which Sutton would, she knew, mostdislike, and showing the most transparent liking for the person of whom,of all others, he especially disapproved. Sutton, too, Feliciaconsidered, was not comporting himself at all as she would have had him:he lavished every possible kindness on Maud, but then it was less forMaud's sake than her own; he would have done, she felt an annoyingconviction, exactly the same for either of her little girls; and thoughhe agreed with her in thinking Maud decidedly picturesque, and in beingamused and interested in the fresh, eager, childlike impulsiveness ofher character, his thoughts about her, alas! appeared to go no further.
'Why that profound sigh, Felicia?' her husband asked, when Maud had goneaway to bed, leaving the two together for the first time during theevening. 'Does it mean that some one has been boring you or what?'
'It means,' said Felicia, 'that I am very cross and that Mr. Desvoeux isa very odious person.'
'And Maud a very silly one, _n'est-ce pas_? Did not I tell you what adeal of trouble our good-nature in having her out would be sure to giveus? Never let us do a good-natured act again! I tell you Maud isalready a finished coquette and, I believe, would be quite prepared toflirt with me.'
'I am sure I wish she would,' said Felicia in a despairing tone. 'Do youknow, George, I do not like these balls at all?'
'Come, come, Felicia, how many valses did you dance to-night?' herhusband asked incredulously, for Felicia was an enthusiasticTerpsichorean.
'That has nothing to do with it,' she said. 'All the people should benice, and so many people are not nice at all. It is too close quarters.There are some men whose very politeness one resents.'
'Courtesy with a touch of traitor in it,' said her husband, 'forinstance?'
'For instance, General Beau,' said Felicia. 'He looks up in the pausesof his devotions to Mrs. Vereker and turns his eyes upon one as if tosay, "Poor victim! your turn will be the next."'
'I saw you playing "Lady Disdain" to him with great success to-night,'her husband answered. And indeed it must be confessed that Beau'sadvances to Felicia, with whom he was always anxious to stand well, werereceived by that lady with a slightly contemptuous dignity, very unlikeher usual joyous cordiality.
'Yes,' said Felicia; 'General Beau's compliments are more than I canstand. But, George, what can I do with Maud? Is not Mr. Desvoeuxinsufferable?'
'Well,' said her husband, 'if a man's ambition is to be thought a_mauvais sujet_, and to dress like a shopboy _endimanche_, it does nothurt us.'
'But it may hurt Maud,' said Felicia, 'if, indeed, it has not hurt heralready. Oh dear, how I wish she was safely married!'
From the above conversation it may be inferred that the responsibilitiesof her new charge were beginning to weigh upon Felicia's spirits. Suttontoo slow, and Desvoeux too prompt, and Maud's fickle fancies incliningnow this way, now that--what benevolent custodian of other people'shappiness had ever more harassing task upon her hands?
It is probable, however, that had Felicia's insight or experience beengreater, the position of affairs would have seemed less fraught withanxiety. Maud's liking for Desvoeux was a sentiment of the lightestpossible texture; its very lightness was, perhaps, its charm. With himshe was completely at her ease and experienced the high spirits whichbeing at one's ease engenders. She was certain of pleasing him, butcareless whether she did so or not. His extravagant protestations amusedher and were flattering in a pleasant sort of way, and his high spiritsmade him an excellent companion; but nothing about him touched her withthe keen deep interest that every word or look of Sutton's inspired, orwith the same strong anxiety to retain his friendship. Desvoeux mightcome and go, and Maud would have treated either event with the sameindifference; but if Sutton should ever begin to neglect her, she wasalready conscious of a sort of pang which the very idea inflicted.
Upon the whole it is probable that Felicia's apprehensions weregroundless. Not the less, however, did she feel disconcerted andaggrieved when the very next morning after the ball Desvoeux made hisappearance, in the highest possible spirits, evidently on the best termswith Maud and politely ignoring all Felicia's attempts to put him down.He was, as it seemed to her, in his very most objectionable mood, andshe felt glad that, at any rate, her husband was at home and that shewas not left to do battle by herself. She resolved to be asunconciliatory as possible. As for Maud it never occurred to her toconceal the pleasure which Desvoeux's arrival gave her, and she soon letout the secret that his visit had been prearranged.
'I did not think that you really would come, Mr. Desvoeux; it is so niceof you, because we are both of us far too tired to do anything but beidle, and you can amuse us.'
'You forget, Maud,' said Vernon, 'that Desvoeux may be too tired to beamusing.'
'And I,' said Felicia, with a slight shade of contempt in her tones, 'amtoo tired even to be amused. I feel that Mr. Desvoeux's witticisms wouldonly fatigue me. I intend to give up balls.'
'Then,' said Desvoeux, with an air of admiring deference which Feliciafelt especially irritating, 'balls will have to give up me. I should notthink it in the least worth while to be a steward and to do all thehorrid things one has to do--polish the floor and audit the accounts anddance official quadrilles with Mrs. Blunt--if our chief patroness choseto patronise no more. A ball without Mrs. Vernon would be a May morningwithout the sunshine.'
'Or a moonlight night without the moon,' said Felicia: 'Allow me to helpyou to a simile.'
'You see he _is_ tired,' said Vernon, 'poor fellow, and for the firsttime in his life in need of a pretty phrase.'
'Not at all,' said Desvoeux, with imperturbable good-nature; 'I amconstantly at a loss, like the rest of the world, for words to tell Mrs.Vernon how much we all admire her. It is only fair that the person whoinspires the sentiment should assist us to express it.'
'But,' cried Maud, 'you are forgetting poor me. Who is to take care ofme, if you please, in the balls of the future?'
'Yes, Felicia,' said Vernon, 'you cannot abdicate just yet, I fear. Asfor me, I feel already far too old.'
'Then,' cried Desvoeux, 'you must look at General Beau and learn thatyouth is eternal. How nice it is to see him adoring Mrs. Vereker, and toremember that we, too, may be adored some thirty years to come!'
'Beau's manner is very compromising,' said Vernon; 'it is a curioustrick. His first object, when he likes a lady, is to endanger herreputation.'
'Yes,' answered Desvoeux, 'he leads her with a serious air to a sofa orhides himself with her in a balcony; looks gravely into her eyes andsays, "How hot it has been this afternoon!" or something equallyinteresting; and all the world thinks that he is asking her to elope atleast.'
'His manners appear to me to be insufferable,' Felicia said, in herloftiest style; 'just the sort of familiarity that breeds contempt.'
'Poor fellow!' said Desvoeux, who knew perfectly that Felicia'sobservations were half-intended for himself, 'it is all his enthusiasm.He is as proud of every fresh flirtation as if it w
ere a newexperience--like a young hen that has just laid its first egg. Healways seems to me to be chuckling and crowing to the universe, "Behold!heaven and earth! I have hatched another scandal." Now,' he added,'Miss Vernon, if ever you and I had a flirtation we should not wish allthe world to "assist," as the French people say, should we? People mightsuspect our devotion, and guess and gossip; but there would not be thisrevolting matter-of-fact publicity; and we should be for ever puttingpeople off the scent: I should still look into the Misses Blunt's eyes,still dance a state quadrille with their mamma, still talk to Mrs.Vereker about the stars, still feel the poetry of Miss Fotheringham'snew Paris dresses: you would continue to fascinate mankind at large;only we two between ourselves should know how mutually broken-hearted wehad become.'
'That is a contingency,' Felicia said, in a manner which Desvoeuxunderstood as a command to abandon the topic, which, happily, there isno need to discuss.' The conversation turned to something else; butFelicia made up her mind more than ever that their visitor was a veryimpertinent fellow, and more than ever resolved to guard Maud's heartfrom every form of attack which he could bring to bear against it. Noprotection could, she felt, be half so satisfactory as thecounter-attraction of a lover who would be everything that Desvoeux wasnot, and whom all the world acknowledged to be alike _sans peur_ and_sans reproche_.