The Pool in the Desert [56]
bit of ice down the back of your neck like that. I've got her coming to tea tomorrow afternoon,' Mrs. Mickie added, with sudden gloom, 'and little Lord Billy and all that set are coming. They'll throw buns at each other--I know they will. What, in heaven's name, made me ask her?'
'Oh, she'll have recovered by then. You must make allowance for the shock we gave her, poor dear. Consider how you would feel if Lady Worsley suddenly appeared upon the scene, and demanded devotion from Sir Frank.'
'She wouldn't get it,' Mrs. Mickie dimpled candidly. 'Frank always loses his heart and his conscience at the same time. But you don't suppose there's anything serious in this affair? Pure pretty platonics, I should call it.'
Mrs. Gammidge lifted her eyebrows. 'I dare say that is what they imagine it. Well, they're never in the same room for two minutes without being aware of it, and their absorption when they get in a corner--I saw her keep the Viceroy waiting, the other night after dinner, while Colonel Innes finished a sentence. And then she was annoyed at the interruption. Here's Kitty Vesey, lookin' SUCH a dog! Hello, Kitty! where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? But that wasn't the colour of your hair last week, Kitty!'
'Don't feel any kind of a dog'--Mrs. Vesey's pout, though becoming, was genuine. 'I'm in a perfectly furious rage, my dears, and I'm coming home to cry, just as soon as I've had an ice. What do you think--they won't let me have Val for Captain Wynne's part in 'The Outcast Pearl'--they say he's been tried before, and he's a stick. Did you ever hear of such brutes? They want me to act with Major Dalton, and he's MUCH too old for the part.'
'Kitten,' said Mrs. Mickie, with conviction, 'Valentine Drake on the stage would be fatal to your affection for him.'
'I don't care, I won't act with anybody else--I'll throw up the part. Haven't I got to make love to the man? How am I to play up to such an unkissable-looking animal as Major Dalton? I shall CERTAINLY throw up the part.'
'Don't do anything rash, Kitty. If you do, they'll probably offer it to me, and I warn you I won't give it back to you.'
'Oh, refuse it, like a dear! I am dying to put them in a hole. It's jealousy, that's what it is. Goodbye, Mrs. Jack, I've had a lovely time. Val and I have been explaining our affection to the Archdeacon, and he says it's perfectly innocent. We're going to get him to put it on paper to produce when Jimmy sues for a divorce, aren't we, Val?'
'You're not going?' said Mrs. Jack Owen.
'Oh, yes, I must. But I've enjoyed myself awfully, and so has everybody I've been talking to. I say, Mickie, dear--about tomorrow afternoon--I suppose I may bring Val?'
'Oh, dear, yes,' Mrs. Mickie replied. 'But you must let me hold his hand.'
'I don't know which of you is the most ridiculous,' Mrs. Owen remarked; 'I shall write to both your husbands this very night,' but as the group shifted and left her alone with Mrs. Gammidge, she said she didn't know whether Mrs. Vesey would be quite so chirpy three weeks hence. 'When Mrs. Innes comes out,' she added in explanation. 'Oh, yes, Valentine Drake is quite her property. My own idea is that Kitty won't be in it.'
Where the road past Peliti's dips to the Mall Madeline met Horace Innes. When she appeared in her rickshaw he dismounted, and gave the reins to his syce. She saw in his eyes the look of a person who has been all day lapsing into meditation and rousing himself from it. 'You are very late,' she said as he came up.
'Oh, I'm not going; at least, you are just coming away, aren't you? I think it is too late. I'll turn back with you.'
'Do,' she said, and looked at his capable, sensitive hand as he laid it on the side of her little carriage. Miss Anderson had not the accomplishment of palm-reading, but she took general manual impressions. She had observed Colonel Innes's hand before, but it had never offered itself so intimately to her inspection. That, perhaps, was why the conviction seemed new to her,
'Oh, she'll have recovered by then. You must make allowance for the shock we gave her, poor dear. Consider how you would feel if Lady Worsley suddenly appeared upon the scene, and demanded devotion from Sir Frank.'
'She wouldn't get it,' Mrs. Mickie dimpled candidly. 'Frank always loses his heart and his conscience at the same time. But you don't suppose there's anything serious in this affair? Pure pretty platonics, I should call it.'
Mrs. Gammidge lifted her eyebrows. 'I dare say that is what they imagine it. Well, they're never in the same room for two minutes without being aware of it, and their absorption when they get in a corner--I saw her keep the Viceroy waiting, the other night after dinner, while Colonel Innes finished a sentence. And then she was annoyed at the interruption. Here's Kitty Vesey, lookin' SUCH a dog! Hello, Kitty! where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? But that wasn't the colour of your hair last week, Kitty!'
'Don't feel any kind of a dog'--Mrs. Vesey's pout, though becoming, was genuine. 'I'm in a perfectly furious rage, my dears, and I'm coming home to cry, just as soon as I've had an ice. What do you think--they won't let me have Val for Captain Wynne's part in 'The Outcast Pearl'--they say he's been tried before, and he's a stick. Did you ever hear of such brutes? They want me to act with Major Dalton, and he's MUCH too old for the part.'
'Kitten,' said Mrs. Mickie, with conviction, 'Valentine Drake on the stage would be fatal to your affection for him.'
'I don't care, I won't act with anybody else--I'll throw up the part. Haven't I got to make love to the man? How am I to play up to such an unkissable-looking animal as Major Dalton? I shall CERTAINLY throw up the part.'
'Don't do anything rash, Kitty. If you do, they'll probably offer it to me, and I warn you I won't give it back to you.'
'Oh, refuse it, like a dear! I am dying to put them in a hole. It's jealousy, that's what it is. Goodbye, Mrs. Jack, I've had a lovely time. Val and I have been explaining our affection to the Archdeacon, and he says it's perfectly innocent. We're going to get him to put it on paper to produce when Jimmy sues for a divorce, aren't we, Val?'
'You're not going?' said Mrs. Jack Owen.
'Oh, yes, I must. But I've enjoyed myself awfully, and so has everybody I've been talking to. I say, Mickie, dear--about tomorrow afternoon--I suppose I may bring Val?'
'Oh, dear, yes,' Mrs. Mickie replied. 'But you must let me hold his hand.'
'I don't know which of you is the most ridiculous,' Mrs. Owen remarked; 'I shall write to both your husbands this very night,' but as the group shifted and left her alone with Mrs. Gammidge, she said she didn't know whether Mrs. Vesey would be quite so chirpy three weeks hence. 'When Mrs. Innes comes out,' she added in explanation. 'Oh, yes, Valentine Drake is quite her property. My own idea is that Kitty won't be in it.'
Where the road past Peliti's dips to the Mall Madeline met Horace Innes. When she appeared in her rickshaw he dismounted, and gave the reins to his syce. She saw in his eyes the look of a person who has been all day lapsing into meditation and rousing himself from it. 'You are very late,' she said as he came up.
'Oh, I'm not going; at least, you are just coming away, aren't you? I think it is too late. I'll turn back with you.'
'Do,' she said, and looked at his capable, sensitive hand as he laid it on the side of her little carriage. Miss Anderson had not the accomplishment of palm-reading, but she took general manual impressions. She had observed Colonel Innes's hand before, but it had never offered itself so intimately to her inspection. That, perhaps, was why the conviction seemed new to her,