CHAPTER II
The Princess helped herself to a salted almond and took her first sipof champagne. The almonds were crisp and the champagne dry. She waswearing a new and most successful dinner-gown of black velvet, and shewas quite sure that in the subdued light no one could tell that thepearls in the collar around her neck were imitation. Her afternoon'sindisposition was quite forgotten. She nodded at her host approvingly.
"Cecil," she said, "it is really very good of you to take in my twofriends like this. Major Forrest has just arrived from Ostend, and Iwas very anxious to hear about the people I know there, and the frocks,and all the rest of it. Lord Ronald always amuses me, too. I supposemost people would call him foolish, but to me he only seems very, veryyoung."
The young man who was host raised his glass and bowed towards thePrincess.
"I can assure you," he said, "that it has given me a great deal ofpleasure to make the acquaintance of Major Forrest and Lord Ronald, butit has given me more pleasure still to be able to do anything for you.You know that."
She looked at him quickly, and down at her plate. Such glances hadbecome almost a habit with her, but they were still effectual. Cecil dela Borne leaned across towards Forrest.
"I hear that you have been to Ostend lately, Major Forrest," he said."I thought of going over myself a little later in the season for a fewdays."
"I wouldn't if I were you," Forrest answered. "It is overrun just nowwith the wrong sort of people. There is nothing to do but gamble, whichdoesn't interest me particularly; or dress in a ridiculous costume andpaddle about in a few feet of water, which appeals to me even less."
"You were there a little early in the season," the Princess remindedhim.
Major Forrest assented.
"A little later," he admitted, "it may be tolerable. On the whole,however, I was disappointed."
Lord Ronald spoke for the first time. He was very thin, very long, andvery tall. He wore a somewhat unusually high collar, but he was verycarefully, not to say exactly, dressed. His studs and links andwaistcoat buttons were obviously fresh from the Rue de la Paix. The setof his tie was perfection. His features were not unintelligent, but hismouth was weak.
"One thing I noticed about Ostend," he remarked, "they charge you afrightful price for everything. We never got a glass of champagne therelike this."
"I am glad you like it," their host said. "From what you say I don'timagine that I should care for Ostend. I am not rich enough to gamble,and as I have lived by the sea all my days, bathing does not attract meparticularly. I think I shall stay at home."
"By the by, where is your home, Mr. De la Borne?" the Princess asked."You told me once, but I have forgotten. Some of your English names areso queer that I cannot even pronounce them, much more remember them."
"I live in a very small village in Norfolk, called Salthouse," Cecil dela Borne answered. "It is quite close to a small market-town calledWells, if you know where that is. I don't suppose you do, though," headded. "It is an out-of-the-way corner of the world."
The Princess shook her head.
"I never heard of it," she said. "I am going to motor through Norfolksoon, though, and I think that I shall call upon you."
Cecil de la Borne looked up eagerly.
"I wish you would," he begged, "and bring your step-daughter. You can'timagine," he added, with a glance at the girl who was sitting at hisleft hand, "how much pleasure it would give me. The roads are reallynot bad, and every one admits that the country is delightful."
"You had better be careful," the Princess said, "or we may take you atyour word. I warn you, though, that it would be a regular invasion.Major Forrest and Lord Ronald are talking about coming with us."
"It's just an idea," Forrest remarked carelessly. "I wouldn't mind itmyself, but I don't fancy we should get Engleton away from town beforeGoodwood."
"Well, I like that," Engleton remarked. "Forrest's a lot keener onthese social functions than I am. As a matter of fact I am for thetour, on one condition."
"And that?" the Princess asked.
"That you come in my car," Lord Ronald answered. "I haven't really hada chance to try it yet, but it's a sixty horse Mercedes, and it'sfitted up for touring. Take the lot of us easy, luggage and everything."
"I think it would be perfectly delightful," the Princess declared. "Doyou really mean it?"
"Of course I do," Lord Ronald answered. "It's too hot for town, and I'mrather great on rusticating, myself."
"I think this is charming," the Princess declared. "Here we have one ofour friends with a car and another with a house. But seriously, Cecil,we mustn't think of coming to you. There would be too many of us."
"The more the better," Cecil said eagerly. "If you really want toattempt anything in the shape of a rest-cure, I can recommend my homethoroughly. I am afraid," he added, with a shrug of the shoulders,"that I cannot recommend it for anything else."
"A rest," the Princess declared, "is exactly what we want. Life here isbecoming altogether too strenuous. We started the season a littleearly. I am perfectly certain that we could not possibly last till theend. Until I arrived in London with an heiress under my charge, I hadno idea that I was such a popular person."
The girl who was sitting on the other side of their host spoke almostfor the first time. She was evidently quite young, and her pale cheeks,dark full eyes, and occasional gestures, indicated clearly enoughsomething foreign in her nationality. She addressed no one inparticular, but she looked toward Forrest.
"That is one of the things," she said, "which puzzles me. I do notunderstand it at all. It seems as though every one is liked ordisliked, here in London at any rate, according to the amount of moneythey have."
"Upon my word, Miss Jeanne, it isn't so with every one," Lord Ronaldinterposed hastily.
She glanced at him indifferently.
"There may be exceptions," she said. "I am speaking of the greatnumber."
"For Heaven's sake, child, don't be cynical!" the Princess remarked."There is no worse pose for a child of your age."
"It is not a pose at all," Jeanne answered calmly. "I do not want to becynical, and I do not want to have unkind thoughts. But tell me, LordRonald, honestly, do you think that every one would have been as kindto a girl just out of boarding-school as they have been to me if itwere not that I have so much money?"
"I cannot tell about others," Lord Ronald answered. "I can only answerfor myself."
His last words were almost whispered in the girl's ears, but she onlyshrugged her shoulders and did not return his gaze. Their host, who hadbeen watching them, frowned slightly. He was beginning to think thatEngleton was scarcely as pleasant a fellow as he had thought him.
"Well," he said, "Miss Le Mesurier will find out in time who are reallyher friends."
"It is a safe plan," Major Forrest remarked, "and a pleasant one, tobelieve in everybody until they want something from you. Then is thetime for distrust."
Jeanne sighed.
"And by that time, perhaps," she said, "one's affections are hopelesslyengaged. I think that it is a very difficult world."
The Princess shrugged her shoulders.
"Three months," she remarked, "is not a long time. Wait, my dear child,until you have at least lived through a single season before you commityourself to any final opinions."
Their host intervened. He was beginning to find the conversation dull.He was far more interested in another matter.
"Let us talk about that visit," he said to the Princess. "I do wishthat you could make up your mind to come. Of course, I haven't anyamusements to offer you, but you could rest as thoroughly as you like.They say that the air is the finest in England. There is always bridge,you know, for the evenings, and if Miss Jeanne likes bathing, mygardens go down to the beach."
"It sounds delightful," the Princess said, "and exactly what we want.We have a good many invitations, but I have not cared to accept any ofthem, for I do not think that Jeanne would care much for the life at anordinary coun
try house. I myself," she continued, with perfect truth,"am not squeamish, but the last house-party I was at was certainly notthe place for a very young girl."
"Make up your mind, then, and say yes," Cecil de la Borne pleaded.
"You shall hear from us within the next few days," the Princessanswered. "I really believe that we shall come."
The little party left the restaurant a few minutes later on their wayinto the foyer for coffee. The Princess contrived to pass out withForrest as her companion.
"I think," she said under her breath, "that this is the bestopportunity you could possibly have. We shall be quite alone downthere, and perhaps it would be as well that you were out of London fora few weeks. If it does not come to anything we can easily make anexcuse to get away."
Forrest nodded.
"But who is this young man, De la Borne?" he asked. "I don't mean that.I know who he is, of course, but why should he invite perfect strangersto stay with him?"
The Princess smiled faintly.
"Can't you see," she answered, "that he is simply a silly boy? He isonly twenty-four years old, and I think that he cannot have seen muchof the world. He told me that he had just been abroad for the firsttime. He fancies that he is a little in love with me, and he isdazzled, of course, by the idea of Jeanne's fortune. He wants to playthe host to us. Let him. I should be glad enough to get away for a fewweeks, if only to escape from these pestering letters. I do think thatone's tradespeople might let one alone until the end of the season."
Forrest, who was feeling a good deal braver since dinner, on the wholefavoured the idea.
"I do not see," he remarked, "why it should not work out very wellindeed. There will be nothing to do in the evenings except to playbridge, and no one to interfere."
"Besides which," the Princess remarked, "you will be out of London fora few weeks, and I dare say that if you keep away from the clubs for atime and lose a few rubbers when you get back your little trouble mayblow over."
"I suppose," Forrest remarked thoughtfully, "this young De la Borne hasno people living with him, guardians, or that sort of thing?"
"No one of any account," the Princess answered. "His father and motherare both dead. I am afraid, though, he will not be of any use to you,for from what I can hear he is quite poor. However, Engleton ought tobe quite enough if we can keep him in the humour for playing."
"Ask him a few more questions about the place," Forrest said. "If itseems all right, I should like to start as soon as possible."
They had their coffee at a little table in the foyer, which was alreadycrowded with people. Their conversation was often interrupted by thesalutations of passing acquaintances. Jeanne alone looked about herwith any interest. To the others, this sort of thing--the music of thered-coated band, the flowers, and the passing throngs of people, thehandsomest and the weariest crowd in the world--were only part of thetreadmill of life.
"By the by, Mr. De la Borne," the Princess asked, "how much longer areyou going to stay in London?"
"I must go back to-morrow or the next day," the young man answered, alittle gloomily. "I sha'n't mind it half so much if you people onlymake up your minds to pay me that visit."
The Princess motioned to him to draw his chair a little nearer to hers.
"If we take this tour at all," she remarked, "I should like to startthe day after to-morrow. There is a perfectly hideous function onThursday which I should so like to miss, and the stupidest dinner-partyon earth at night. Should you be home by then, do you think?"
"If there were any chance of your coming at all," the young mananswered eagerly, "I should leave by the first train to-morrow morning."
"I think," the Princess declared softly, "that we will come. Don'tthink me rude if I say that we could not possibly be more bored than weare in London. I do not want to take Jeanne to any of the countryhouse-parties we have been invited to. You know why. She really is sucha child, and I am afraid that if she gets any wrong ideas about thingsshe may want to go back to the convent. She has hinted at it more thanonce already."
"There will be nothing of that sort at Salt-house," Cecil de la Bornedeclared eagerly. "You see, I sha'n't have any guests at all exceptjust yourselves. Don't you think that would be best?"
"I do, indeed," the Princess assented, "and mind, you are not to makeany special preparations for us. For my part, I simply want a littlerest before we go abroad again, and we really want to come to youfeeling the same way that one leaves one's home for lodgings in afarmhouse. You will understand this, won't you, Cecil?" she addedearnestly, laying her fingers upon his arm, "or we shall not come."
"It shall be just as you say," he answered. "As a matter of fact theRed Hall is little more than a large farmhouse, and there is verylittle preparation which I could make for you in a day or a day and ahalf. You shall come and see how a poor English countryman lives, whoselands and income have shrivelled up together. If you are dull you willnot blame me, I know, for all that you have to do is to go away."
The Princess rose and put out her hand.
"It is settled, then," she declared. "Thank you, dear Mr. Host, foryour very delightful dinner. Jeanne and I have to go on to HarlinghamHouse for an hour or two, the last of these terrible entertainments, Iam glad to say. Do send me a note round in the morning, with the exactname of your house, and some idea of the road we must follow, so thatwe do not get lost. I suppose you two," she added, turning to Forrestand Lord Ronald, "will not mind starting a day or two before we hadplanned?"
"Not in the least," they assured her.
"And Miss Le Mesurier?" Cecil de la Borne asked. "Will she really notmind giving up some of these wonderful entertainments?"
Jeanne smiled upon him brilliantly. It was a smile which came soseldom, and which, when it did come, transformed her face so utterly,that she seemed like a different person.
"I shall be very glad, indeed," she said, "to leave London. I amlooking forward so much to seeing what the English country is like."
"It will make me very happy," Cecil de la Borne said, bowing over herhand, "to try and show you."
Her eyes seemed to pass through him, to look out of the crowded room,as though indeed they had found their way into some corner of the worldwhere the things which make life lie. It was a lapse from which sherecovered almost immediately, but when she looked at him, and with alittle farewell nod withdrew her hand, the transforming gleam hadpassed away.
"And there is the sea, too," she remarked, looking backwards as theypassed out. "I am longing to see that again."