The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst [189]
"No, he's lovely. He's had, you know, he's had a lot of problems."
"Yeah . . . ?" said Treat. "It's such a shame he's not family."
"Well . . ." said Nick. "Where did you two meet him?"
"Oh, we met him at the Rosenheims' last fall, in East Hampton? Which of course is when we also met . . . Antoine."
"And Martina," said Brad.
"Yes, Martine," said Nick.
"Yes, Brad loved Antoine," said Treat. He put the straw to his lips and sucked pointedly at the reddish brown liquid.
Brad said, "Yeah, what a lovely guy."
"So you haven't seen him since?" Nick knew he should warn them, but didn't know how to start.
"So Nat's some kind of lord, right?" said Brad.
"Yes," said Nick. "He's a marquess."
"Oh my god . . . !" said Treat under his breath.
"What, so he's Marquess . . . is it Chirk?"
"Chirk is the family name. His title is Marquess of Hanmer."
"Brad . . . ? You see who's over there?"
"So what do we call his old man?" said Brad, shaking his head as he turned in his chair.
"His father's the Duke of Flintshire. I should just call him sir."
"Treat, my god, you're right . . . it's Betsy!"
"I want her to be in my film," said Treat. "She's such a great British actress."
"I don't know if you will meet the Duke," Nick went on, uncertain how much pomp he was borrowing from mere use of the word. He aimed to speak of the aristocracy in a factual tone, because of his shame at his father's tally of earls. "I've only met him once. He never leaves the Castle. You know he's a cripple."
"You British . . . " said Treat, only half-relinquishing his childlike gaze at Betsy Tilden. She seemed to loom for him as a marvel and a dare, and Nick could see him going over to her. She was much too young for Mrs Gereth, and quite wrong for Fleda Vetch. "You're so brutal!"
"Mm . . . ?" said Nick.
"You know, 'he's a cripple'—really."
"Oh . . . " said Nick, and blushed as if it was his lurking snobbery that had been criticized and not whatever this was. "I'm sorry, but that's actually what the Duke calls himself. He hasn't walked since he was a boy." He was slightly winded to be called on a point of delicacy—and one that impinged, obliquely but perceptibly, on their lunch. He cleared his throat and said, "You know, there's something I should tell you . . . Ah, here we are." He raised a hand as Wani appeared at the desk by the door, and as he got up he heard both Americans murmuring, "Oh my god . . ."
He went over to him, smiling and capable but in a fluster of emotions—pity, defiance, a desire to support him, and a dread of people seeing him. The girl held his stick for him as she helped him off with his coat. "Hello," said Wani; he didn't seem to want Nick to kiss him. He took his stick again, which was an elegant black one with a silver handle, and tapped across the marble floor with it. He still wasn't quite convincing with the stick; he was like a student actor playing an old man. The stick itself seemed both to focus and repel attention. People looked and looked away.
The Americans stood up, Treat clutching his napkin to his chest. "Hey, Antoine, great to see you!"
"How are you!" said Brad, in a sporting wheeze. He laid his hand for a moment on Wani's back, and Nick on his other side was doing the same, so that they seemed to congratulate him; though what they felt was the knobs of his spine through the wool of his suit. Wani sat down, smiling with distant courtesy, as if this was a weekly meeting, with a known format and outcome. There was a brief pause of silent adjustment. Nick smiled at Wani, but the shock was refreshed by the presence of their guests and a bubble rose in his throat.
"So what were you talking about?" said Wani. His voice was if anything more languid than before, though with a hint that it couldn't be forced.
"I was just explaining to Brad and Treat about the Chirks," said Nick.
"Ah yes," said Wani, as if this was a very old and silly story. "It's only a nineteenth-century dukedom, of course."
"Right . . . " said Brad, peeping at him and seeming to share, out of mere nerves and inattentiveness, the view that this