CHAPTER XXI
THE GREATEST INDISCRETION
I
In the vestibule of the Quadrant stood Peel, looking a veritablecolossus of negation. As Patricia approached he bowed and led the wayto the lift. As it slid upwards Patricia wondered if Peel could hearthe thumping of her heart, and if so, what he thought of it. Shefollowed him along the carpeted corridor conscious of a mad desire toturn and fly. What would Peel do? she wondered. Possibly in themadness of the moment his mantle of discretion might fall from him, andhe would dash after her. What a sensation for the Quadrant! A girltearing along as if for her life pursued by a gentleman's servant. Itwould look just like the poster of "Charley's Aunt."
Peel opened the door of Bowen's sitting-room, and Patricia entered withthe smile still on her lips that the thought of "Charley's Aunt" hadaroused. Something seemed to spring towards her from inside the room,and she found herself caught in a pair of arms and kissed. Sheremembered wondering if Peel were behind, or if he had closed the door,then she abandoned herself to Bowen's embrace.
Everything seemed somehow changed. It was as if someone had suddenlyshouldered her responsibilities, and she would never have to thinkagain for herself. Her lips, her eyes, her hair, were kissed in turn.She was being crushed; yet she was conscious only of a feeling ofcomplete content.
Suddenly the realisation of what was happening dawned upon her, and shestrove to free herself. With all her force she pushed Bowen from her.He released her. She stood back looking at him with crimson cheeks andunseeing eyes. She was conscious that something unusual was happeningto her, something in which she appeared to have no voice. Perhaps itwas all a dream. She swayed a little. The same sensation she hadfought back at the telephone was overcoming her. Was she going tofaint? It would be ridiculous to faint in Bowen's rooms. Why didpeople faint? Was it really, as Aunt Adelaide had told her, becausethe heart missed a beat? One beat----
She felt Bowen's arm round her, she seemed to sway towards a chair.Was the chair really moving away from her? Then the mist seemed toclear. Someone was kneeling beside her.
Bowen gazed at her anxiously. Her face was now colourless, and hereyes closed wearily. She sighed as a tired child sighs before fallingasleep.
"Patricia! what is the matter?" cried Bowen In alarm. "You haven'tfainted, have you?"
She was conscious of the absurdity of the question. She opened hereyes with a curious fluttering movement of the lids, as if they wereuncertain how long they could remain unclosed. A slow, tired smileplayed across her face, like a passing shaft of sunshine, then the lidsclosed again and the life seemed to go out of her body.
Bowen gently withdrew his arm and, rising, strode across to a table onwhich was a decanter of whisky and syphon of soda. With unsteadyhands, he poured whisky and soda into a glass and, returning toPatricia, he passed his arm gently behind her head, placing the glassagainst her lips. She drank a little and then, with a shudder, turnedher head aside. A moment later her eyes opened again. She lookedround the room, then fixed her gaze on Bowen as if trying to explain toherself his presence. Gradually the colour returned to her cheeks andshe sighed deeply. She shook her head as Bowen put the glass againsther lips.
"I nearly fainted," she whispered, sighing again. "I've never donesuch a thing." Then after a pause she added, "I wonder what hashappened. My head feels so funny."
"It's all my fault," said Bowen penitently. "I've waited so long, andI seemed to go mad. You will forgive me, dearest, won't you?" hisvoice was full of concern.
Patricia smiled. "Have I been here long?" she asked. "It seems agessince I came."
"No; only about five minutes. Oh, Patricia! you won't do it again,will you?" Bowen drew her nearer to him and upset the glass containingthe remains of the whisky and soda that he had placed on the floorbeside him.
"I didn't quite faint, really," she said earnestly, as if defendingherself from a reproach.
"I mean throw me over," explained Bowen. "It's been hell!"
"Please go and sit down," she said, moving restlessly. "I'm all rightnow. I--I want to talk and I can't talk like this." Again she smiled,and Bowen lifted her hand and kissed it gently. Rising he drew a chairnear her and sat down.
"You see all this comes of trying to be a Mrs. Triggs," she saidregretfully.
"Mrs. Triggs!" Bowen looked at her anxiously.
Slowly and a little wearily Patricia explained her conversation withElton. "Didn't he tell you he had seen me?"
"No," replied Bowen, relieved at the explanation; "Godfrey is a perfectdome of silence on occasion."
"Why did you suddenly leave me all alone, Peter?" Patricia enquiredpresently. "I couldn't understand. It hurt me terribly. I didn'trealise"--she paused--"oh, everything, until I heard you were goingaway. Oh, my dear!" she cried in a low voice, "be gentle with me. I'mall bruises."
Bowen bent across to her. "I'm a brute," he said, "but----"
She shook her head. "Not that sort," she said. "It's my pride I'vebruised. I seem to have turned everything upside down. You'll have tobe very gentle with me at first, please." She looked up at him with aflicker of a smile.
"Not only at first, dear, but always," said Bowen gently as he rose andseated himself beside her. "Patricia, when did you--care?" he blurtedout the last word hurriedly.
"I don't know," she replied dreamily. "You see," she continued after apause, "I've not been like other girls. Do you know, Peter," shelooked up at him shyly, "you're the first man who has ever kissed me,except my father. Isn't it absurd?"
"It's nothing of the sort," Bowen declared, tilting up her chin andgazing down into her eyes. "But you haven't answered my question."
"Well!" continued Patricia, speaking slowly, "when you sent me flowersand messengers and telegraph-boys and things I was angry, and then whenyou didn't I----" she paused.
"Wanted them," he suggested.
"U-m-m-m!" she nodded her head. "I suppose so," she conceded. "But,"she added with a sudden change of mood, "I shall always be dreadfullyafraid of Peel. He seems so perfect."
Bowen laughed. "I'll try and balance matters," he said.
"But you haven't told me," said Patricia, "why you left me alone all atonce. Why did you?" She looked up enquiringly at him.
During the next half an hour Patricia slowly drew from Bowen the wholestory of the plot engineered by Lady Tanagra.
"But why," questioned Patricia, "were you going away if you knewthat--that everything would come all right?"
"I had given up hope, and I couldn't break my promise to Tan. Iconvinced myself that you didn't care."
Patricia held out her hand with a smile. Bowen bent and kissed it.
"I wonder what you are thinking of me?" She looked up at himanxiously. "I'm very much at your mercy now, Peter, aren't I? Youwon't let me ever regret it, will you?"
"Do you regret it?" he whispered, bending towards her, conscious of thefragrance of her hair.
"It's such an unconditional surrender," she complained. "All my prideis bruised and trampled underfoot. You have me at such a disadvantage."
"So long as I've got you I don't care," he laughed.
"Peter," said Patricia after a few minutes of silence, "I want you toring up Tanagra and Godfrey Elton and ask them to dine here thisevening. They must put off any other engagement. Tell them I say so."
"But can't we----?" began Bowen.
"There, you are making me regret already," she said with a flash of herold vivacity.
Bowen flew to the telephone. By a lucky chance Elton was calling atGrosvenor Square, and Bowen was able to get them both with one call.He was a little disappointed, however, at not having Patricia tohimself that evening.
"When shall we get married?" Bowen asked eagerly, as Patricia rose andannounced that she must go and repair damages to her face and garments.
"I will tell you after dinner," she said as she walked towards the door.
II
&n
bsp; "It is only the impecunious who are constrained to be modest," remarkedElton as the four sat smoking in Bowen's room after dinner.
"Is that an apology, or merely a statement of fact?" asked Lady Tanagra.
"I think," remarked Patricia quietly, "that it is an apology."
Elton looked across at her with one of those quick movements of hiseyes that showed how alert his mind was, in spite of the languid easeof his manner.
"And now," continued Patricia, "I have something very important to sayto you all."
"Oh!" groaned Lady Tanagra, "spare me from the self-importance of thenewly-engaged girl."
"It has come to my knowledge, Tanagra," proceeded Patricia, "that youand Mr. Elton did deliberately and wittingly conspire together againstmy peace of mind and happiness. There!" she added, "that's almostlegal in its ambiguity, isn't it?"
Lady Tanagra and Elton exchanged glances.
"What do you mean?" demanded Lady Tanagra gaily.
Patricia explained that she had extracted from Bowen the whole story.Lady Tanagra looked reproachfully at her brother. Then turning toPatricia she said with unwonted seriousness:
"I saw that was the only way to--to--well get you for a sister-in-lawand," she paused a moment uncertainly. "I knew you were the only girlfor that silly old thing there, who was blundering up the wholebusiness."
"Your mania for interfering in other people's affairs will be yourruin, Tanagra," said Patricia as she turned to Elton, her look clearlyenquiring if he had any excuse to offer.
"The old Garden of Eden answer," he said. "A woman tempted me."
"Then we will apply the old Garden of Eden punishment," announcedPatricia.
Elton, who was the first to grasp her meaning, looked anxiously at LadyTanagra, who with knitted brows was endeavouring to penetrate toPatricia's meaning. Bowen was obviously at sea. Suddenly LadyTanagra's face flamed and her eyes dropped. Elton stroked the back ofhis head, a habit he had when preoccupied--he was never nervous.
"You two," continued Patricia, now thoroughly enjoying herself, "haveprecipitated yourselves into my most private affairs, and in return Iam going to take a hand in yours. Peter has asked me when I will marryhim. I said I would tell him after dinner this evening."
Bowen looked across at her eagerly, Elton lit another cigarette, LadyTanagra toyed nervously with her amber cigarette-holder.
"I will marry Peter," announced Patricia, "when you, Tanagra," shepaused slightly, "marry Godfrey Elton."
Lady Tanagra looked up with a startled cry. Her eyes were wide withsomething that seemed almost fear, then without warning she turned andburied her head in a cushion and burst into uncontrollable sobbing.
Bowen started up. With a swift movement Patricia went over to his sideand, before he knew what was happening, he was in the corridorstuttering his astonishment to Patricia.
For an hour the two sat in the lounge below, talking and listening tothe band. Patricia explained to Bowen how from the first she had knownthat Elton and Tanagra were in love.
"But we've known him all our lives!" expostulated Bowen.
"The very thing that blinded you all to a most obvious fact."
"But why didn't he----?" began Bowen.
"Because of her money," explained Patricia. "Anyhow," she continuedgaily, "I had lost my own tail, and I wasn't going to see Tanagrawagging hers before my eyes. Now let's go up and see what hashappened."
Just as Bowen's hand was on the handle of the sitting-room door,Patricia cried out that she had dropped a ring. When they entered theroom Elton and Lady Tanagra were standing facing the door. One glanceat their faces, told Patricia all she wanted to know. Without a wordElton came forward and bending low, kissed her hand. There wassomething so touching in his act of deference that Patricia felt herthroat contract.
She went across to Lady Tanagra and put her arm round her.
"You darling!" whispered Lady Tanagra. "How clever of you to know."
"I knew the first time I saw you together," whispered Patricia.
Lady Tanagra hugged her.
"And now we must all run round to Grosvenor Square. Poor Mother--whata surprise for her!"
III
Elton's medical board took a more serious view of his state of healththan was anticipated, and he was temporarily given an appointment inthe Intelligence Department. Bowen's application to be allowed torejoin his regiment was refused, and thus the way was cleared for thedouble wedding that took place at St. Margaret's, Westminster.
Patricia was given away by the Duke of Gayton. Lady Peggy declaredthat it would rank as the most heroic act he had ever performed. Mr.Triggs reached the highest sartorial pinnacle of his career in a lightgrey, almost white frock-coated suit with a high hat to match, a whitewaistcoat, and a white satin tie. As Elton expressed it, he lookedlike a musical-comedy conception of a bookmaker turned philanthropist.
Galvin House was there in force. Even Gustave obtained an hour offand, with a large white rose in his button-hole, beamed on everyone andeverything with the utmost impartiality. Miss Brent, like Achilles,sulked in her tent.
"The only two men I ever loved," wailed Lady Peggy to a friend, "andboth gone at one shot."
"She's a lucky girl," said an old dowager, "and only a secretary."
"Some girl. What!" muttered an embryo field-marshal to a one-pipstrategist in the uniform of the Irish Guards, who concurred with anemphatic, "Lucky devil!"
At Galvin House for the rest of the chapter they talked, dreamed andlived the Bowen-Brent marriage. It was the one ineffaceable sunspot inthe greyness of their lives.
HERBERT JENKINS'
SHILLING LIBRARY
BINDLE HERBERT JENKINS WITHOUT MERCY JOHN GOODWIN PICCADILLY JIM P. G. WODEHOUSE THE FRINGE OF THE DESERT R. S. MACNAMARA THE CHARING CROSS MYSTERY J. S. FLETCHER THE MAN WITH THE CLUBFOOT VALENTINE WILLIAMS ALF'S BUTTON W. A. DARLINGTON HIDDEN FIRES MRS. PATRICK MACGILL THE LUCK OF THE VAILS E. F. BENSON THE WHISKERED FOOTMAN EDGAR JEPSON THE DIAMOND CROSS MYSTERY CHESTER K. S. STEELE THE MYSTERY OF THE SCENTED DEATH ROY VICKERS ANTHONY TRENT, MASTER CRIMINAL WYNDHAM MARTYN THE MARKENMORE MYSTERY J. S. FLETCHER A DAUGHTER IN REVOLT JOHN GOODWIN THE BARTERED BRIDE MRS. PATRICK MACGILL A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS P. G. WODEHOUSE HIS OTHER WIFE ROY VICKERS THE COMPULSORY WIFE JOHN GLYDER THE WINNING CLUE JAMES HAY, Jun. PATRICIA BRENT, SPINSTER HERBERT JENKINS THE SECRET OF THE SILVER CAR WYNDHAM MARTYN ISAACS JOSEPH GEE PLAYING WITH SOULS COUNTESS DE CHAMBRUN THE MYSTERIOUS CHINAMAN J. S. FLETCHER THE FLAME OF LIFE MRS. PATRICK MACGILL BLACKMAIL JOHN GOODWIN THAT RED-HEADED GIRL LOUISE HEILGERS MOLESKIN JOE PATRICK MACGILL SALLY ON THE ROCKS WINIFRED BOGGS THE UNLIGHTED HOUSE JAMES HAY, Jun. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD EDITH BLINN
3 YORK STREET ST. JAMES'S LONDON S.W.1
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