"My Lords ..." he mumbled half-incoherently, "I implore you ... do notheed him ... he..."
His futile attempts at Conciliation tickled Mr. Betterton's sense ofhumour. The last vestige of his Anger vanished in a mocking Smile.
"Nay, good Master Theophilus," he said coolly, "prithee do not interferebetween me and the Wrath of these two Gentlemen. Attend to thine ownAffairs ... and to thine own Conspiracies," he added--spoke suddenlyunder Mr. Baggs' very nose, so that the latter gave a jump andinvoluntarily gasped:
"Conspiracies? ... What--what the devil do you mean, Sir, byConspiracies?"
"Oh, nothing--nothing--my good Friend," replied Mr. Betterton lightly."But when I see two hot-headed young Cavaliers in close conversationwith a seedy Lawyer, I know that somewhere in the pocket of one of themthere is a bit of Handwriting that may send the lot of them to the Towerfirst and to--well!--to Heaven afterwards."
My Heart was in my Mouth all the time that he spoke. Of course he couldnot know how near the Truth he was, and I firmly believe that his banterwas a mere Arrow shot into the air; but even so it grazed these nobleLords' equanimity. Lord Douglas had become very pale, and my Lord Stourlooked troubled, or was it my fancy? But I am sure that her Ladyship'sblue eyes rested on Mr. Betterton with a curious searching gaze. Shetoo wondered how much Knowledge of the Truth lay behind his easySarcasm.
Then Lord Douglas broke into a laugh.
"There, for once, Sir Actor," he said lightly, "your perspicacity is atfault. My Lord the Earl of Stour and I came to consult yourBrother-in-law on a matter of business."
"And," exclaimed Mr. Betterton with mock concern, "I am detaining youwith my foolish talk. I pray you, Gentlemen, take no further heed ofme. Time treads hard on your aristocratic Heels, whilst it is the Slaveof a poor, shiftless Actor like myself."
"Yes, yes," once more interposed the mealy-mouthed Mr. Baggs. "I prayyou, my Lords--your Ladyship--to come to my inner office----"
There was a general movement amongst the Company, during which Idistinctly heard Lord Douglas Wychwoode whisper to my Lord Stour:
"Can you wonder that I always long to lay a stick across that Man'sshoulders? His every word sounds like insolence ... And he has dared tomake love to Barbara...."
Her Ladyship, however, seemed loth to linger. The hour, of a truth, wasgetting late.
"Father will be anxious," she said. "I have stayed out over long."
"Are the streets safe, I wonder?" my Lord Stour remarked.
"Perfectly," broke in Mr. Betterton. "And if her Ladyship will allowme, I will conduct her to her Chair."
Again my Lord Stour flashed out angrily, and once more the broodingQuarrel threatened to burst the bounds of conventional Intercourse.This time the Lady Barbara herself interposed.
"I pray you, my good Lord," she said, "do not interfere. Mr. Bettertonand I are old Friends. By your leave, he shall conduct me to my chair.Do we not owe it to him," she added gaily, "that the streets are quietenough to enable us all to get home in peace?"
Then she turned to Mr. Betterton and said gently:
"If You would be so kind, Sir--my men are close by--I should be gratefulif You will tell them to bring my chair along."
She held out her hand to him and he bowed low and kissed the tips of herfingers. Then he went.
6
Lord Douglas' spiteful glance followed the distinguished Actor'sretreating figure until the door had closed upon him. Then he saiddrily:
"Perhaps you are right, Babs. He may as well fetch your chair. It israining hard and one Lacquey is as good as another."
He turned to Mr. Baggs, who, standing first on one leg then on theother, presented a truly pitiable spectacle of Servility andUnmanliness. I think he had just come to realize that I had been in theroom behind the screen all this while, and that my Presence would beunwelcome to their Lordships if they knew that I had overheard all theirConversation. Certain it is that I saw him give a quick glance in mydirection, and then he became even more fussy and snivelling thanbefore.
"In my inner Office," he murmured. "I pray you to honour me, myLords.... A glass of wine, perhaps ... until the copies are finished. Ishould be so proud ... and ... and ... we should be quite undisturbed... whereas here ... I only regret..."
I despised him for all that grovelling, and so did the Gentlemen, I makeno doubt. Nevertheless, they were ready to follow him.
"We must wait somewhere," Lord Douglas said curtly. "And I should beglad of a glass of wine."
Lady Barbara was standing in the window-recess, waiting for her chair.She insisted on my Lord Stour going with her Brother into the innerroom. Undoubtedly, she did not wish either of them to meet Mr. Bettertonagain.
"I promise you," she said with quiet Determination, "that I'll not stopto speak with him. I'll watch through the window until my Men bring thechair; then I will go down at once."
"But----" protested his Lordship.
"I entreat you to go, my Lord," she reiterated tartly. "And you too,Douglas. My temper is on edge, and if I am not left to myself for a fewmoments I shall have an attack of Nerves."
She certainly spoke with unwonted Sharpness. Thus commanded, it wouldhave been churlish to disobey. The young Gentlemen, after a second ortwo longer of Hesitation, finally followed Mr. Baggs out of the room.
Now, I could not see the Lady Barbara, for she was ensconced in awindow-recess, just as I was; but I heard her give a loud Sigh ofImpatience. There was no doubt that her Nerves had been jarred. Smallwonder, seeing all that she had gone through--the noise and rioting inthe streets, her Terror and her Flight; her unexpected meeting with herLover; then the advent of Mr. Betterton and that brooding Quarrelbetween him and the two Gentlemen, which threatened to break through atany moment.
The next minute I saw her Ladyship's chair brought to a halt down below,and she crossed the Line of my Vision between the window and the sofa,where she had left her cloak. She picked it up and was about to wrap itround her shoulders, when the door was flung open and Mr. Betterton camein. He gave a quick glance round the room and saw that the Lady Barbarawas alone--or so he thought, for, of course, he did not see me. Hecarefully closed the door behind him and came quickly forward,ostensibly to help her Ladyship on with her cloak.
"It is kind of you, Sir, thus to wait on me," she said coldly. "May Iclaim your Arm to conduct me to my chair?"
She was standing close in front of him just then, with her back to himand her hands raised up to her shoulders in order to receive her cloak,which he had somewhat roughly snatched out of her grasp.
"My Arm?" he riposted, with a vibrating note of passion in his mellowvoice. "My Life, myself, are all at your Ladyship's service. But willnot you wait one little moment and say one kind word to the poor Actorwhose Art is the delight of Kings, and whose Person is the butt of everyCoxcomb who calls himself a Gentleman?"
He flung the cloak upon a chair and tried to take her hand, which,however, she quickly withdrew, and then turned, not unkindly, to facehim.
"My Brother is hasty, Sir," she said more gently. "He has manyprejudices which, no doubt, time and experience of life will mend. Asfor me," she added lightly, "I am quite ready to extend the hand ofFriendship, not only to the Artist but to the Man."
She held out her hand to him. Then, as he did not take it, but stoodthere looking at her with that hungry, passionate look which revealedthe depth of his Admiration for her, she continued with a bantering toneof reproach:
"You will not take my hand, Sir?"
"No," he replied curtly.
"But I am offering You my Friendship," she went on, with a quick, nervylittle laugh; for she was Woman enough, believe me, to understand hislook.
"Friendship between Man and Woman is impossible," he said in a strange,hoarse voice, which I scarce recognized as his.
"What do you mean?" she retorted, with a sudden stiffening of her Figureand a haughty Glance which he, of a truth, should have known
boded nogood for his suit.
"I mean," he replied, "that between a Man and a Woman, who are bothyoung and both endowed with Heart and Soul and Temperament, there may beEnmity or Love, Hatred or Passion; but Friendship, never."
"You talk vaguely, Sir," she rejoined coldly. "I pray You, give me mycloak."
"Not," he retorted, "before I have caused your Ladyship to cast oneshort Glance back over the past few months."
"With what purpose, I pray You?"
"So that You might recognize, as You gaze along their vista, the man whosince he first beheld you hath madly worshipped You."
She stood before him, still facing him, tall and of a truth divinelyfair. Nay! this no one could gainsay. For the moment I found it in myHeart to sympathize with his Infatuation. You, dear Mistress, were notthere to show him how much lovelier still a Woman could be, and the LadyBarbara had all the subtle flavour, too, of forbidden fruit. Mr.Betterton sank on one knee before her; his mellow Voice soundedexquisitely tender and caressing. Oh! had I been a Woman, how gladlywould I have listened to his words. There never was such a Voice asthat of Mr. Betterton. No wonder that he can sway the hearts ofthousands by its Magic; no wonder that thousands remain entranced whilehe speaks. Now, I assure You, Mistress, that tears gathered in my eyes,there was such true Passion, such depth of feeling in his tone. ButLady Barbara's heart was not touched. In truth, she loved another Man,and her whole outlook on Life and Men was distorted by the Environmentamidst which she had been brought up.
The exquisite, insinuating Voice with its note of tender Appeal onlyaroused her contempt. She jumped to her feet with an angry exclamation.What she said, I do not quite remember; but it was a Remark which musthave stung him to the quick, for I can assure You, dear Mistress, thatMr. Betterton's pride is at least equal to that of the greatest Noblemanin the land. But all that he did say was:
"Nay, Madam; an Artist's love is not an insult, even to a Queen."
"Possibly, Sir," she riposted coldly. "But I at least cannot listen toYou. So I pray You let me rejoin my Servants."
"And I pray You," he pleaded, without rising, "humbly on my knees, tohear me just this once!"
She protested, and would have left him there, kneeling, while she ranout of the room; but he had succeeded in getting hold of her Hand andwas clinging to it with both his own, whilst from his lips there came atorrent of passionate pleading such as I could not have thought anyWoman capable of resisting for long.
"I am not a young Dandy," he urged; "nor yet a lank-haired, crazy Poetwho grows hysterical over a Woman's eyebrow. I am a Man, and an Artist,rich with an inheritance such as even your Ancestors would have enviedme. Mine inheritance is the Mind and Memory of cultured England and aName which by mine Art I have rendered immortal."
"I honour your Genius, Sir," she rejoined coolly; "and because of it, Itry to excuse your folly."
"Nay!" he continued with passionate insistence. "There are Passions sosweet that they excuse all the Follies they provoke. Oh! I pray Youlisten ... I have waited in silence for months, not daring to approachYou. You seemed immeasurably above me, as distant as the Stars; butwhilst I, poor and lowly-born, waited and worshipped silently, successforged for me a Name, so covered with Glory that I dare at last place itat your feet."
"I am touched, Sir, and honoured, I assure You," she said somewhatimpatiently. "But all this is naught but folly, and reason should teachyou that the Daughter of the Marquis of Sidbury can be nothing to You."
But by this time it was evident that the great and distinguished Actorhad allowed his Folly to conquer his Reason. I closed my eyes, for Icould not bear to see a Man whom I so greatly respected kneeling in suchabject humiliation before a Woman who had nothing for him but disdain.Ah! Women can be very cruel when they do not love. In truth, LadyBarbara, with all her Rank and Wealth, could not really have feltcontempt for a Man whom the King himself and the highest in the landdelighted to honour; yet I assure You, Mistress, that some of the thingsshe said made me blush for the sake of the high-minded Man who honoursme with his Friendship.
"Short of reason, Sir," she said, with unmeasured hauteur at one time,"I pray you recall your far-famed sense of humour. Let it show youThomas Betterton, the son of a Scullion, asking the hand of the LadyBarbara Wychwoode in marriage."
This was meant for a Slap in the Face, and was naught but a studiedinsult; for we all know that the story of Mr. Betterton's Father havingbeen a menial is utterly without foundation. But I assure You that bythis time he was blind and deaf to all save to the insistent call of hisown overwhelming passion. He did not resent the insult, as I thought hewould do; but merely rejoined fervently:
"I strive to conjure the picture; but only see Tom Betterton, theworld-famed Artist, wooing the Woman he loves."
But what need is there for me to recapitulate here all the fond andfoolish things which were spoken by a truly great Man to a chit of aGirl, who was too self-centred and egotistical to appreciate the greatHonour which he was conferring on her by his Wooing. I was holding mybreath, fearful lest I should be seen. To both of these proud Peoplebefore me, my known Presence would have been an added humiliation.Already Lady Barbara, impatient of Mr. Betterton's importunity, wasraising her Voice and curtly bidding him to leave her in peace. Ithought every moment that she would call out to her Brother, when Heavenalone would know what would happen next.
"Your importunity becomes an insult, Sir," she said at last. "I commandYou to release my hand."
She tried to wrench it from his Grasp, but I imagine that his hold onher wrist was so strong that she could not free herself. She lookedaround her now with a look of Helplessness, which would have gone to myHeart if I had any feeling of sympathy left after I had poured out itsfull measure for my stricken Friend. He was not himself then, I assureYou, Mistress. I know that the evil tongue of those who hate and envyhim have poured insidious poison in your ears, that they told you thatMr. Betterton had insulted the Lady Barbara past forgiveness and hadbehaved towards her like a Cad and a Bully. But this I swear to beuntrue. I was there all the time, and I saw it all. He was on hisknees, and never attempted to touch her beyond clinging to her Hand andcovering it with kisses. He was an humbled and a stricken Man, who sawhis Love rejected, his Passion flouted, his Suffering mocked.
I tell you that all he did was to cling to her hand.
7
Then, all at once, I suppose something frightened her, and she calledloudly:
"Douglas! Douglas!"
I don't think that she meant to call, and I am sure that the very nextmoment she had already regretted what she had done.
Mr. Betterton jumped to his feet, sobered in the instant; and she stoodalone in the middle of the room, gazing somewhat wild-eyed in thedirection of the door, which had already been violently flung open andthrough which my Lord Stour and Lord Douglas now hurriedly steppedforward.
"What is it, Babs?" Lord Douglas queried roughly. "Why are You stillhere? ... And what...?"
He got no further. His glance had alighted on Mr. Betterton, and Inever saw quite so much concentrated Fury and Hatred in any one's eyesas now appeared in those of Lord Douglas Wychwoode.
But already the Lady Barbara had recovered herself. No doubt sherealized the Mischief which her involuntary call had occasioned. TheQuarrel which had been slowly smouldering the whole Afternoon was readyto burst into living flame at this moment. Even so, she tried to stemits outburst, protesting that she had been misunderstood. She eventried to laugh; but the laugh sounded pitiably forced.
"But it's nothing, Douglas, dear," she said. "I protest. Did I reallycall? I do not remember. As a matter of fact, Mr. Betterton was goodenough to recite some verses for my delectation ... My Enthusiasm musthave run away with me ... and, unwittingly, I must have called out..."
Obviously the Explanation was a lame one. I felt myself that it wouldnot be believed. On the face of my Lord Stour thunderclouds of Wrathwere fast gat
hering, and though Mr. Betterton had recovered his presenceof mind with all the Art at his command, yet there was a glitter in hiseyes which he was powerless to veil, whilst the tremor of her Ladyship'slips while she strove to speak calmly aroused my Lord Stour'sever-wakeful Jealousy.
Lord Douglas, as was his wont apparently whenever he was deeply moved,was pacing up and down the room; his hands were clasped behind his backand from time to time I could see their convulsive twitching. LordStour now silently helped her Ladyship on with her cloak. I wasthankful that Mr. Baggs and Mistress Euphrosine were keeping in thebackground, else I verily believe that their obsequious Snivellingswould have caused my quivering Nerves to play me an unpleasant trick.
Mr. Betterton had retired to the nearest window recess, so that I couldnot see him. All that I did see were the two Gentlemen and thethreatening Clouds which continued to gather upon their Brows. I alsoheard my Lord Stour whisper hurriedly in Lord Douglas' ear:
"In the name of our Friendship, Man, let me deal with this."
I felt as if an icy hand had gripped my Heart. I could not conjecturewhat that ominous Speech could portend. Lady Barbara now looked verypale and troubled; her hands as they fumbled with her cloak trembledvisibly. Lord Stour, with a masterful gesture, took one of them andheld it firmly under his arm.
He then led her towards the door. Just before she went with him,however, her Ladyship turned, and I imagine sought to attract Mr.Betterton's attention.
"I must thank you, Sir," she said, with a final pathetic attempt atConciliation, "for your beautiful Recitation. I shall be greatlyenvied, methinks, by those who have only heard Mr. Betterton declaimupon the Stage."