CHAPTER IX--DISAPPOINTMENT
Dan Blair had not been back of the scenes at the Gaiety since his firstcall on the singer. Indeed, though he had told the duchess he pitiedMiss Lane, he had not been able to approach her very closely, even inhis own thoughts. When she first appeared on his horizon his mind wasfull of the Duchess of Breakwater, and the singer had only hovered roundhis more profound feelings for another woman. But Letty Lane was anatmosphere in Dan's mind which he was not yet able to understand. Therewas so little left that was connected with his old home, certainlynothing in the British Isles, excepting Ruggles, and to the young maneverything from America had its value. Decidedly the nice girl of whomhe had spoken to Gordon Galorey, the print-frocked, sun-bonneted type,the ideal girl that Dan would like to marry and to spoil, had notcrossed his path. The Duchess of Breakwater did not suggest her, nor didany of the London beauties. Dan's first ideal was beginning to fade.
He left Osdene Park on protest and returned the same night to London,and all the way back to town tried to register in his mind, unused toanalysis, his experience with the Duchess of Breakwater on this lastvisit.
He had experienced his first disappointment in the sex, and thisdisappointment had been of an unusual kind. It was not that he had beenturned down or given the mitten, but he had seen one woman turn anotherdown. A woman had been mean, so he put it, and the fact that the Duchessof Breakwater had refused to lend a moral hand to the singer at theGaiety hurt Dan's feelings. Then, as soon as his enthusiasm had calmed,he saw what a stupid ass he had been. A duchess couldn't mix up with acomic opera singer, of course. Still, he mused, "she might have been alittle nicer about it."
The education his father had given him about women, the slenderinformation he had about them, was put to the test now; the girl he haddreamed of, "the nice girl," well, she would have had a tenderer waywith her in a case such as this! Back of Dan's hurt feelings, there wasa great deal on the Duchess of Breakwater's side. She had not done forherself yet. She hadn't fetched him nearly up to the altar for nothing,and back of his disapproval, there was a long list of admirations andlooks, memories of many tete-a-tetes and of more fervent kisses whichscored a good deal in the favor of Dan's first woman. The Duchess ofBreakwater had gone boldly on with Dan's unfinished education, and hereally thought he loved her, and that he was in honor bound to see thething through.
* * * * *
That evening, once more in the box he had taken all to himself, helistened to _Mandalay_, carried away with the charm of the music andcarried away by the singer. He was in the box nearest the stage andseemed close to her, and he imagined that under her paint he could seeher pallor and how thin she was. Nothing, however, in her acting or inher voice revealed the least fatigue. Blair had obtained a card ofentrance to the theater, which permitted him to circulate freely behindthe scenes, and although as yet the run of his visits had not beenclear, this night he had a purpose. Dan stood not far from the corridorthat led to Letty Lane's room, and saw her after her act hurriedly crossthe stage, a big white shawl wrapping her slender form closely. She wasas thin as a candle. Her woman Higgins followed closely after her, andas they passed Dan, Letty Lane called to him gaily:
"Hello, you! What are you hanging around here for?"
And Dan returned: "Don't stand here in the draft. It is beastly cold."
"Yes, Miss," her woman urged, "don't stand here."
But the actress waited nevertheless and said to Dan: "Who's the girl?"
"What girl?"
"Why, the girl you come here every night to see and are too shy to speakto. Everybody is crazy to know."
Letty Lane looked like a little girl herself in the crocheted garmenther small hands held across her breast. Dan put his arm on her shoulderwithout realizing the familiarity of his gesture:
"Get out of this draft--get out of it quick, I say," and pushed hertoward her room.
"Gracious, but you are strong." She felt the muscular touch, and hishand flat against her shoulder was warm through the wool.
"I wish _you_ were strong. You work too darned hard."
Her head was covered with the coral cap and feather. Dan saw her billowyskirt, her silken hose, her little coral shoes. She fluttered at thedoor which Higgins opened.
"Why haven't you been to see me?" she asked him. "You are not verypolite."
"I am coming in now."
"Not a bit of it. I'm too busy, and it is a short entr'acte. Go and seethe girl you came here to see."
Dan thought that the reason she forbade him to come in was becausePrince Poniotowsky waited for her in her dressing-room. It was his firstjealous moment, and the feeling fell on him with a swoop, and its fangsfastened in him with a stinging pain. He stammered:
"I didn't come to see any girl here but you. I came to see you."
"Come to-morrow at two, at the Savoy."
But before Dan realized his own precipitation, he had seized thedoor-handle as Letty Lane went within and was about to close her roomagainst him, and said quickly:
"I'm coming right in now."
"Why, I never heard of such a thing," she answered sharply, angrily;"you must be crazy! Take away your hand!" And hers, as well as his,seized the handle of the door. Her small ice-cold hand brought him tohis senses.
"I beg your pardon," he murmured confusedly. "Do go in and get warm ifyou can."
But instead of obeying, now that the rude young man withdrew hisimportuning, Miss Lane's hands fell from the knob, and close to his eyesshe swayed before him, and Dan caught her in his arms--went into herroom, carrying her. He had been wrong about Prince Poniotowsky; save forHiggins, the room was empty. The woman, though she exclaimed, showed nogreat surprise and seemed prepared for such a fainting spell. Dan laidthe actress on the sofa and then the dresser said to him:
"Please go, sir; I can quite manage. She has these turns often. I'llgive her brandy. She will be quite right."
But Dan hesitated, looking at the bit of humanity that he had laid withgreat gentleness on the divan covered with pillows. Letty Lane laythere, small as a little child, inanimate as death. It was hard to thinkthe quiet little form could contain such life, fire and motion, or thatthis senseless little creature held London with her voice and grace.Higgins knelt down by Letty Lane's side, quiet, capable, going about thebusiness of resuscitating her lady much as she laced the singer's bodiceand shoes. "If you would be so good as to open the door, sir, and sendme a call page. They'll have to linger out this entr'acte or put on somefeature."
"But," exclaimed Blair, "she can't go back to-night?"
"Lord, yes," Higgins returned. "Here, Miss Lane; drink this."
At the door where he paused, Dan saw the girl lifted up, saw her lean onHiggins' shoulder, and assured then that she was not lifeless in goodtruth, he went out to do as Higgins had asked him. In a quarter of anhour the curtain rose and within half an hour Dan, from his box, saw theactress dance to the rajah her charming polka to the strains of theHungarian Band.