VI
Before she went to bed in her hotel in the Rue de Rivoli, MonicaEllerwood wrote to her aunt.
"PARIS, _May 15th_.
"MY DEAR AUNT MILLY,--We have had a delicious little week, Jack and I, quite like an old honeymoon pair--and to-day we ran across Hector, who has remained hidden until now. He is looking splendid, just as handsome and full of life as ever, so it does not tell upon his constitution, that is one mercy! Not like poor Ernest Bretherton, who, if you remember, was quite broken up by her last year. And I have one good piece of news for you, dear Aunt Milly. I do not believe he is so frantically wrapped up in this Esclarmonde de Chartres woman after all--in spite of that diamond chain at Monte Carlo. For to-night he took us to dine at Armenonville--although Jack particularly wanted to go to the Madrid--and when we got there we saw at once why! There was a most beautiful woman dining there with a party, and Hector never took his eyes off her the whole of dinner, Jack says--I had my back that way--and he got rid of us as soon as he could and went and joined them. Very young she looked, but I suppose married, from her pearls and clothes--American probably, as she was perhaps too well dressed for one of us; but quite a lady and awfully pretty. Hector was so snappish about it, and would not tell her name, that it makes me sure he is very much in love with her, and Jack thinks so too. So, dear Aunt Milly, you need have no more anxieties about him, as she can't have been married long, she looks so young, and so must be quite safe. Jack says Hector is thoroughly able to take care of himself, anyway, but I know how all these things worry you. If I can find out her name before I go I will, though perhaps you think it is out of the frying-pan into the fire, as it makes him no more in the mood to marry Morella Winmarleigh than before. Unless, of course, this new one is unkind to him. We shall be home on Saturday, dear Aunt Milly, and I will come round to lunch on Sunday and give you all my news.
"Your affectionate niece, "MONICA ELLERWOOD."
Which epistle jarred upon Hector's mother when she read it over coffeeat her solitary dinner on the following night.
"Poor dear Monica!" she said to herself. "I wonder where she got thisstrain from--her father's family, I suppose--I wish she would not beso--bald."
Then she sat down and wrote to her son--she was not even going to theopera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite,she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintivefrown on her face.
If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother,she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondalewas no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his ownway, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of.These visits to Paris--his antipathy to matrimony--his boredom withgirls--such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown himwith!--his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossiblecountries--and, above all, his absolute indifference to MorellaWinmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of heartsLady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have acceptedseveral other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. ButMorella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous propertyadjoining Bracondale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemishedreputation, nice looking, and not--not one of those modern women who arebound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count uponMorella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to bea mother-in-law's joy.
But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openlydefied his mother--he simply made love to her whenever they weretogether, twisted her round his finger, and was off again.
"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight.Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sitsthere beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat withnew kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman,caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything shesays, and does absolutely what he pleases!"
Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were inlove with him jealous.
When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it overcarefully--she had a certain tact, and Hector must be cajoled to return,not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgaritywhich she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She hadbeen getting really anxious over this affair with the--French person.Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms whichusually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres.
Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringingthat disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns--ofsuch a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond!
Hector had gone from Monte Carlo to Venice, and then to Paris, where hehad been for more than a month, and she had heard that men could becomequite infatuated and absolutely ruined by these creatures. So for him tohave taken a fancy to a married American was considerably better thanthat. She had met several members of this nation herself in England, andwere they not always very discreet, with well-balanced heads! Soaltogether the puckered frown soon left her smooth brow, and she wasable to resume the knitting of a tie she was doing for her son, with aspirit more or less at rest, though she sighed now and then as sheremembered Morella Winmarleigh could not be expected to waitforever--and her cherished vision of perfectly behaved, vigorouslyhealthy grandchildren was still a long way from being realized. For withsuch a mother what perfect children they would be! This was always herfinal reflection.