CHAPTER XXVI
EXTRAORDINARY LOVE-MAKING
Fedora sauntered slowly around the rooms, leaning over and staking agold plaque here and there. She was dressed as usual in white, with anermine turban hat and stole and an enormous muff. Her hair seemed moregolden than ever beneath its snow-white setting, and her complexion moredazzling. She seemed utterly unconscious of the admiration which herappearance evoked, and she passed Lane without apparently observing him.A moment afterwards, however, he moved to her side and addressed her.
"Quite a lucky coup of yours, that last, Miss Grex. Are you used towinning _en plein_ like that?"
She turned her head and looked at him. Her eyebrows were ever soslightly uplifted. Her expression was chilling. He remained, however,absolutely unconscious of any impending trouble.
"I was sorry not to find you at home this morning," he continued. "Ibrought my little racing car round for you to see. I thought you mighthave liked to try her."
"How absurd you are!" she murmured. "You must know perfectly well thatit would have been quite impossible for me to come out with you alone."
"But why?"
She sighed.
"You are quite hopeless, or you pretend to be!"
"If I am," he replied, "it is because you won't explain things to meproperly. The tables are much too crowded to play comfortably. Won't youcome and sit down for a few minutes?"
She hesitated. Lane watched her anxiously. He felt, somehow, that agreat deal depended upon her reply. Presently, with the slightestpossible shrug of the shoulders, she turned around and suffered him towalk by her side to the little antechamber which divided the gamblingrooms from the restaurant.
"Very well," she decided, "I suppose, after all, one must remember thatyou did save us from a great deal of inconvenience the other night. Iwill talk to you for a few minutes."
He found her an easy-chair and he sat by her side.
"This is bully," he declared.
"Is what?" she asked, once more raising her eyebrows.
"American slang," he explained penitently. "I am sorry. I meant that itwas very pleasant to be here alone with you for a few minutes."
"You may not find it so, after all," she said severely. "I feel that Ihave a duty to perform."
"Well, don't let's bother about that yet, if it means a lecture," hebegged. "You shall tell me how much better the young women of yourcountry behave than the young women of mine."
"Thank you," she replied, "I am never interested in the doings of ademocracy. Your country makes no appeal to me at all."
"Come," he protested, "that's a little too bad. Why, Russia may be ademocracy some day, you know. You very nearly had a republic foistedupon you after the Japanese war."
"You are quite mistaken," she assured him. "Russia would never toleratea republic."
"Russia will some day have to do like many other countries," he answeredfirmly,--"obey the will of the people."
"Russia has nothing in common with other countries," she asserted."There was never a nation yet in which the aristocracy was so powerful."
"It's only a matter of time," he declared, nonchalantly.
She shrugged her shoulders.
"You represent ideas of which I do not approve," she told him.
"I don't care a fig about any ideas," he replied. "I don't care muchabout anything in the world except you."
She turned her head slowly and looked at him. Its angle wassupercilious, her tone frigid.
"That sort of a speech may pass for polite conversation in your country,Mr. Lane. We do not understand it in mine."
"Don't your men ever tell your women that they love them?" he askedbluntly.
"If they are of the same order," she said, "if the thing is at allpossible, it may sometimes be done. Marriage, however, is more a matterof alliance with us. Our servants, I believe, are quite promiscuous intheir love-making."
He was silent for a moment. She may, perhaps, have felt somecompunction. She spoke to him a little more kindly.
"We cannot help the ideas of the country in which we are brought up, youknow, Mr. Lane."
"Of course not," he agreed. "I understand that perfectly. I was justthinking, though, what a lot I shall have to teach you."
She was momentarily aghast. She recovered herself quickly, however.
"Are all the men of your nation so self-confident?"
"We have to be," he told her. "It's the only way we can get what wewant."
"And do you always succeed in getting what you want?"
"Always!"
"Then unless you wish to be an exception," she advised, "let me beg younot to try for anything beyond your reach."
"There is nothing," he declared firmly, "beyond my reach. You are tryingto discourage me. It isn't any use. I am not a prince or a duke oranything like that, although my ancestors were honest enough, I believe.I haven't any trappings of that sort to offer you. If you are assensible as I think you are, you won't mind that when you come to thinkit over. The only thing I am ashamed of is my money, because I didn'tearn it for myself. You can live in palaces still, if you want to, andif you want to be a queen I'll ferret out a kingdom somewhere and buyit, but I am afraid you'll have to be Mrs. Lane behind it all, youknow."
"You really are the most intolerable person," she exclaimed, biting herlip. "How can I get these absurd ideas out of your mind?"
"By telling me honestly, looking in my eyes all the time, that you couldnever care for me a little bit, however devoted I was," he answeredpromptly. "You won't be able to do it. I've only one belief in lifeabout these things, and that is that when any one cares for a girl as Icare for you, it's absolutely impossible for her to be whollyindifferent. It isn't much to start with, I know, but the rest willcome. Be honest with me. Is there any one of the men of your countrywhom you have met, whom you want to marry?"
She frowned slightly. She found herself, at that moment, comparing himwith certain young men of her acquaintance. She was astonished torealise that the comparison was all in his favour. It was for her anextraordinary moment. She had indeed been brought up in palaces and themen whom she had known had been reckoned the salt of the earth. Yet, atthat crisis, she was most profoundly conscious that not all the glamourof those high-sounding names, the picturesque interest of those gorgeousuniforms, nor the men themselves, magnificent in their way, were able tomake the slightest appeal to her. She remembered some of her own bitterwords when an alliance with one of them had been suggested to her. Itwas she, then, who had been the first to ignore the divine heritage ofbirth, who had spoken of their drinking habits, pointed to their life ofidle luxury and worse than luxury. The man who was at the present momenther suitor forced himself upon her recollection. She knew quite wellthat he represented a type. They were of the nobility, and they seemedto her in that one poignant but unwelcome moment, hatefully degenerate,men no self-respecting girl could ever think of. Family influence, sternparental words, the call of her order, had half crushed these thoughts.They came back now, however, with persistent force.
"You see," Richard Lane went on, "it mayn't be much that I have to offeryou, but in your heart I know you feel what it means to be offered thelove of a man who doesn't want you just because you are of his order, orbecause you are the daughter of a Personage, or for any other reasonthan because he cares for you as he has cared for no other woman onearth, and because, without knowing it, he has waited for you."
She moved restlessly in her chair. Their conversation was not going inthe least along the lines which she had intended. She suddenlyremembered her own disquiet of the day before, her curious longing tosteal off on some excuse to-day. A week ago she would have been contentto have dawdled away the afternoon in the grounds of the villa.Something different had come. From the moment she had entered the rooms,although she had never acknowledged it, she had been conscious,pleasurably conscious of his presence. She was suddenly uneasy.
"I am afraid," she murmured, "that you are quite hopeless."
&nbs
p; "If you mean that I am without hope, you are wrong," he answeredsturdily. "From the moment I met you I have had but one thought, anduntil the last day of my life I shall have but one thought, and thatthought is of you. There may be no end of difficulties, but I come of anobstinate race. I have patience as well as other things."
She was avoiding looking at him now. She looked instead at her claspedhands.
"I wish I could make you understand," she said, in a low tone, "howimpossible all this is. In England and America I know that it isdifferent. There, marriages of a certain sort are freely made betweendifferent classes. But in Russia these things are not thought of.Supposing that all you said were true. Supposing, even, that I had theslightest disposition to listen to you. Do you realise that there isn'tone of my family who wouldn't cry out in horror at the thought of mymarrying--forgive me--marrying a commoner of your rank in life?"
"They can cry themselves hoarse, as they'll have to some day," hereplied cheerfully. "As for you, Miss Fedora--you don't mind my callingyou Miss Fedora, do you?--you'll be glad some day that you were born atthe beginning of a new era. You may be a pioneer in the new ways, butyou may take my word for it that you won't be the last. Please havecourage. Please try and be yourself, won't you?"
"But how do you know what I am?" she protested. "Or even what I am like?We have spoken only a few words. Nothing has passed between us whichcould possibly have inspired you with such feelings as you speak of,"she added, colouring slightly. "It is a fancy of yours, quite too absurda fancy. Now that I find myself discussing it with you as though,indeed, we were talking of it seriously, I am inclined to laugh. You arejust a very foolish young man, Mr. Lane."
He shook his head.
"Look here," he said, "I am very good at meaning things, but it'sawfully hard for me to put my thoughts into words. I can't explain howit's all come about. I don't know why, amongst all the girls I've seenin my own country, or England, or Paris, or anywhere, there hasn't beenone who could bring me the things which you bring, who could fill mymind with the thoughts you fill it with, who could make my days standstill and start again, who could upset the whole machinery of my life sothat when you come I want to dance with happiness, and when you go theday is over with me. There is no chance of my being able to explain thisto you, because other fellows, much cleverer than I, have been in thesame box, and they've had to come to the conclusion, too, that thereisn't any explanation. I have accepted it. I want you to. I love you,Fedora, and I will be faithful to you all my life. You shall live whereyou choose and how you choose, but you must be my wife. There isn't anyway out of it for either of us."
She sat quite still for several moments. They were a little behind thecurtain and it chanced that there was no one in their immediatevicinity. She felt her fingers suddenly gripped. They were releasedagain almost at once, but a queer sensation of something overmasteringseemed to creep through her whole being at the touch of his hand. Sherose to her feet.
"I am going away," she declared.
"I haven't offended you?" he begged. "Please sit down. We haven't halftalked over things yet."
"We have talked too much," she answered. "I don't know really what hascome over me that I have let you--that I listen to you--"
"It is because you feel the truth of what I say," he insisted. "Don'tget up, Fedora. Don't go away, dear. Let us have at least these fewminutes together. I'll do exactly as you tell me. I'll come to yourfather or I'll carry you off. I have a sister here. She'll be yourfriend--"
"Don't!" the girl stopped him. "Please don't!"
She sat down in her chair again. Her fingers were twisted together, herslim form was tense with stifled emotions.
"Have I been a brute?" he asked softly. "You must forgive me, Fedora. Iam not much used to girls and I am sort of carried away myself, only Iwant you to believe that there's the real thing in my heart. I'll makeyou just as happy as a woman can be. Don't shake your head, dear. I wantyou to trust me and believe in me."
"I think you're a most extraordinary person," she said at last. "Do youknow, I'm beginning to be really afraid of you."
"You're not," he insisted. "You're afraid of yourself. You're afraidbecause you see the downfall of the old ideas. You're afraid because youknow that you're going to be a renegade. You can see nothing but troubleahead just now. I'll take you right away from that."
There was the rustle of skirts, a soft little laugh. Richard rose to hisfeet promptly. He had never been so pleased in all his life to welcomehis sister.
"Flossie," he exclaimed, "I'm ever so glad you came along! I want topresent Miss Grex to you. This is my sister, Miss Fedora--LadyWeybourne. I was just going to ask Miss Grex to have some tea with me,"he went on, "but I am not sure that she would have considered it proper.Do come along and be chaperone."
Lady Weybourne laughed.
"I shall be delighted," she declared. "I have seen you here once ortwice before, haven't I, Miss Grex, and some one told me that you wereRussian. I suppose you are not in the least used to the free and easyways of us Westerners, but you'll come and have some tea with us, won'tyou?"
The girl hesitated. Fate was too strong for her.
"I shall be very pleased," she agreed.
They found a window table and Lane ordered tea. Fedora was inclined tobe silent at first, but Lady Weybourne was quite content to chatter. Bydegrees Fedora, too, came back to earth and they had a very gay littletea-party. At the end of it they all strolled back into the roomstogether. Fedora glanced at the watch upon her wrist and held out herhand to Lady Weybourne.
"I am sorry," she said, "but I must hurry away now. It is very kind ofyou to ask me to come and see you, Lady Weybourne. I shall be charmed."
Richard ignored her fingers.
"I am going to see you down to your car, if I may," he begged.
They left the room together. She looked at him as they descended thestairs, almost tremulously.
"This doesn't mean, you know," she said, "that I--that I agree to allyou have been saying."
"It needn't mean anything at all, dear," he replied. "This is only thebeginning. I don't expect you to realise all that I have realised quiteso quickly, but I do want you to keep it in your mind that this thinghas come and that it can't be got rid of. I won't do anything foolish.If it is necessary I will wait, but I am your lover now, as I alwaysmust be."
He handed her into the car, the footman, in his long white livery,standing somberly on one side. As they drove off she gave him herfingers, and he walked back up the steps with the smile upon his lipsthat comes to a man only once or twice in his lifetime.