her. But he was not yetquite prepared to screw up his courage to the sticking place.
It was easy to understand. The obligations he owed his family wereweighing on his mind. The woman he made his wife would one day be theCountess of Southleigh. He had to think of all this. And all he knewabout her was learned from her own statement, and she had a cousin whowas, from his point of view, certainly not a gentleman.
Above all things, Stella Keane was a very business-like young woman, andnever shrank from looking facts squarely in the face. She must play awaiting game. Guy Spencer was very deeply in love, but he was not ahotheaded, impetuous boy, the sort of amorous youth who runs off with achorus-girl, regardless of consequences. Lovers of this kind were veryrarely met with.
If Guy Spencer did marry her, and she could not at the moment be sure hewould, he would be fully conscious of the disadvantages to himselfentailed by such a marriage. Would her fascination be strong enough toconquer his better judgment?
At any rate, for the present he was prepared to advance her five hundredpounds, and ask nothing but her friendship in return. It was an offerthat she would have been a fool to refuse.
Presently she rose and went up to Mrs L'Estrange's bedroom. Thatsorely perturbed lady had risen, flung on a dressing-gown, and wasreclining on a sofa.
"I can't sleep, I only fidget and fidget about," was the explanation."So I thought I might as well get up."
"Very wise," said Stella calmly. "You're a little bit too hysterical,you know. You should keep your nerves in order as I do mine."
"Not always," was the sarcastic rejoinder. "They go to pieces inthunderstorms and air-raids, don't they?"
"The exception proves the rule, my dear lady. Well, I haven't come uphere to indulge in a sparring match. I have some very great news foryou. Mr Spencer called this afternoon; he hasn't left me very long."The elder woman became interested at once. "You don't mean to say hehas asked you to marry him?"
Stella laughed. "No, he hasn't, although it will not be my fault if hedoesn't later on. It seems Tommy Esmond called on him last night, andmade a clean breast of his whole history."
Mrs L'Estrange frowned. "Then I think he was a great fool. Everybody,of course, will know what actually happened, that he was discoveredcheating. But he need not go and tell him more than he would learn fromgeneral rumour."
Stella's face hardened a little. "You must make some allowances forhim. He must have been in a terrible state of tension when he felt thathis career was ended. He was so very proud, you know, of the positionin society that he had won for himself. He must have felt like a man onthe eve of execution. He was hardly responsible for his thoughts oractions. He is very highly-strung."
Mrs L'Estrange spoke more gently. "Yes, of course. I am sorry I saidthat, my dear. And after all, it doesn't make any difference how muchhe told or how little. The result to him is the same. And now for yourgreat news, what are they? You say Spencer has not asked you to marryhim."
Stella told her of Guy's suggestion, and her acceptance of it. "It istoo good a chance to refuse. So, my dear, I shall have to leave you atthe earliest possible moment."
It was some time before the elder woman seemed quite able to grasp it.When she did, her astonishment seemed unbounded.
"Of all the strange things I have ever heard," she began, but Stella cuther short with a little mocking laugh.
"Not quite so strange when you think it quietly out," she said. "If hereally knew anything about me, if I could produce a few respectablerelatives, if I had some of your blue blood in my veins, he would haveproposed this afternoon."
Mrs L'Estrange nodded her rather dishevelled head. "I think I see."
"He is very much in love with me," went on Stella quietly. "Anyway, somuch so that he doesn't want to lose sight of me, while he is making uphis mind. Hence his offer."
"But he could see you here."
Stella shook her head. "He would loathe this house after what occurredlast night, and he thinks I am in an unholy set. He really is an awfuldear, you know, so high-minded and upright. His great aim is to get meaway from the environment."
Mrs L'Estrange settled herself comfortably amongst her sofa cushions.She was an excitable and fussy person about trifles, but she took thegreat things of life with a calm and equal mind.
"Well, my dear, go as soon as it suits yourself. You have been a goodpal to me, and I shall be sorry to lose you. But if you have got adecent chance you would be a fool not to take it."
Miss Keane was strongly of the same opinion. Anyway she was glad theinterview was over, that Mrs L'Estrange had taken everything in suchgood part. She might have turned nasty if the mood had seized her.
Later on, Miss Keane wrote a long letter to Tommy Esmond to an addresswhich he had communicated to her in his note of the morning.
The same evening, she held a long conversation with her cousin andtrustee, Mr Dutton, who came to Elsinore Gardens in obedience to anurgent summons on the telephone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
Lady Nina Spencer sat in the drawing-room of the big house in CarltonHouse Terrace, awaiting the few guests who had been invited to a small,informal dinner-party. Her father, very infirm for his years, satopposite to her in a big easy-chair.
The Earl spoke in his low, quavering voice: "I have nothing to sayagainst the woman herself, judging from what little we have seen of her.She has very perfect manners, just a trifle too perfect. I can quiteunderstand that for the average man she possesses considerable charm,and she has great good looks. Many people would call her beautiful.But I can only repeat what I said on the day I received Guy's letterannouncing his clandestine marriage: `The pity of it.'"
Lady Nina was a quiet, robust and practical young person, fond oflooking facts in the face, and looking at them very squarely.
She had been as much shocked at her cousin's rash marriage as the Earlhimself, but it was an accomplished fact. Only two courses were open:the first to have nothing more to do with Guy and his wife, the secondto admit the wife to a guarded intimacy.
Lord Southleigh had declared warmly, in his first disgust, that he wouldnever look upon his young kinsman's face again. But Nina had prevailedwith milder counsels. Guy was his heir, and in the course of Naturewould succeed to the family honours. They would not cut themselvesadrift from him, and they must make up their minds to tolerate thiswife, of whose antecedents he could give no satisfactory account. Theone fact he did mention, that she was a cousin of Mrs L'Estrange, didnot weigh much with them.
Mrs L'Estrange came of a fairly good family, so far as birth counted,but it was both impecunious and addicted to making unfortunatealliances. One of her sisters had run away with a good-looking youngfellow who had been her father's valet. She was a woman who would havea good many undesirable relatives knocking about. Miss Stella Keane,the daughter of an impoverished Irishman, might well belong to this bandof undesirables. More especially as Guy's statements about herantecedents were of the most bald and unsatisfactory nature.
It was all very sad and regrettable from every point of view, but, asNina calmly pointed out, several young heirs to peerages had beenrunning amok lately, in the matrimonial sense, and taking their wivesfrom very questionable quarters. Guy might have married some coarse andcommon creature from the music-halls. It was unfortunate, in a way,that he had a considerable fortune of his own, and could snap hisfingers at the displeasure of his relatives, if they presumed to showit.
But, somehow, knowing Guy as well as she did, Nina did not believe thatthe future Countess of Southleigh, who would, in due course, wear thefamily jewels, was likely to be coarse or common. Guy was toofastidious, too innately a gentleman, to be snared by a creature of thatkind.
And, on her first introduction, the young wife made a much morefavourable impression than might have been anticipated, considering theprejudices arrayed against her.
She was not in the least servile or obsequious in the presence of thesetwo very aristocrati
c persons, but she bore herself with a certain kindof shrinking modesty, as if asking pardon for having intruded into thefamily. Her attitude to her husband appeared to be one of shyadoration, tempered with perfect good taste. Her deep affection forhim, while not obtrusive or ostentatious, seemed to express itself inher tender glances, the soft cadences of her voice when she addressedhim.
Nina made up her mind to one thing, that, if she was not genuinely anddevotedly in love with him, she must be one of the most perfectactresses to be met with off the stage.
And Guy was still infatuated. When he had made her that strange offer,he knew that he was drifting, but he had still left some small remnantof self-control. But her fascination had proved too strong. Every dayshe wove the chains more strongly round him.
And then there came a time when absence from her was unbearable, when hetook to counting the hours that elapsed between their next meeting. Theend was inevitable. The moment came when he definitely made up his mindthat he could not break away; that existence without her would beintolerable.
They were married quietly before the registrar, a strange wedding forthe heir to the Southleigh earldom. No relatives of his were present,as he had forborne to give them any notice of his intention. She wasunattended also. Even her cousin, Mr Dutton, did not put in anappearance. Knowing her future husband's dislike of the young man, shehad not paid him the compliment of requesting his attendance.
The day before the marriage, she spoke to him in a tremulous voice andwith tears in her eyes.
"Guy, darling, I have said very little about this before, but you mustnot think I am blind to the sacrifices you are making. From to-morrow Ibid adieu to my past life, to all the few friends and acquaintances Ihave made; I know that you will be happier by my doing so. Henceforth Idevote my whole life to you. Your people shall be my people, if theywill forgive me and have me."
He clasped her to his breast with a lover's rapture. How sweet andwomanly she looked as she uttered those words in her low, broken tones.He understood what she meant. For his sake she was going to give up allthat shady L'Estrange crew, to see as little of her objectionable cousinas possible. She explained, later on, that she could not ignore himaltogether, as he had the management of her small affairs in his hands.But all this could be conducted by correspondence.
Guy was delighted. He knew well enough that his own world would notaccept his marriage kindly, that they would never take his wife to theiroffended bosom. But they would rub along somehow. There were plenty ofmen he could bring to their house, and perhaps a few decent women whowere perfectly respectable, but not too strait-laced. And, anyway, theworld was well lost for love like this.
It cannot be said that, on the social side, their existence was a verybrilliant one. It did not matter so much to Guy, he had never beenover-fond of society. He liked his men friends, and having been abachelor so long, he was fond of club life. He got quite as muchamusement and distraction as he wanted.
His wife had many lonely hours, but she was wise in this respect thatshe never sought to chain him to her side. Whenever he came home hefound her there waiting for him, affectionate and welcoming. Perhaps,after her stormy and chequered past, what would have been dullness toothers seemed to her the peace she had been longing for.
She got on very well with her husband's male friends, most of whomopenly expressed amongst themselves their admiration for her. If shehad been a woman of a flirtatious temperament she could have had a goodtime without overstepping the bounds of decorum. But she never exceededthe limits of strict friendship. She never indulged in an intimacy thatcould have the least element of danger in it. The general vote was,that she was very beautiful, very charming, in a quiet, elusive way, butnaturally of a cold and unimpassionable nature. Only for her husbanddid her glance take on a warmer expression, her voice a tenderer tone.
The few women who came to the house found her unsatisfactory. Theimpression made upon them--and women are pretty shrewd when dissectingone of their own sex--was that she was a person who lived too muchwithin herself, had a rooted disinclination "to let herself go" in thoselittle confidential chats which are indulged in when no men are present.And for that studied reticence there must be some cogent reason. Aboveall, she never referred to her girlhood, never made any allusions to herfamily. The general impression was that Mrs Spencer had something tohide.
Anyway, after many months of married life, Guy was still as much in lovewith her as ever, and he was always profoundly touched by the pretty andimpressive way in which she insisted that all the advantages were on herside, that she could never repay him sufficiently for the sacrifices hehad so cheerfully made.
Of course Guy knew nothing of what his friends were saying; the men whoadmired her beauty, and were disappointed at the negative qualitieswhich accompanied it; the women who found her unsatisfactory and weredetermined that she had something to hide.
All he knew, and was content in knowing, was this--that after manymonths of matrimony, for they had been married few weeks before theArmistice was proclaimed--that Armistice which was to be the precursorof a golden era--he was quite happy. She was a perfect wife, from hispoint of view, and he never looked back with the faintest misgiving.What he had done then, he would do again to-day, in spite of the factthat her reticence with regard to the past was as profound with him aswith the various acquaintances who occasionally visited her.
Not even the close intimacy of married life had elicited any of thoseallusions and confidences which enable one to piece together, in somemeasure, the life-history of the person who makes them. But Guy had agenerous nature, and was one of the least suspicious of men. Heattributed this strange reticence to the fact that the past containednothing but painful memories, that even to the man she loved she couldnot reopen the old wounds.
On this particular night, Lady Nina was awaiting her guests. It was alittle dinner-party to meet the young married couple, six in all,herself and father, Mr and Mrs Spencer, a young woman friend of thehostess, and an old friend of the Southleigh family, Hugh Murchison,already met with in the early chapters of this history.
Murchison was the first arrival. He walked with a slight limp, theresult of a bad wound in the leg. He had been laid-up for a very longtime at his own home with the effects of shell-shock. He had only beenin London for a few days, and it was ages since the Southleighs had seenhim. They welcomed him warmly.
After a little desultory conversation Nina spoke:
"You know from my note that you are here to-night especially to meet Guyand his wife, the wife that he sprang upon us in such a sudden anddramatic manner."
"Yes, I understood that. You know I have been out of the world so long,and more than half the time not in my right senses, that I had heardnothing of the details till, a day or two ago, I picked it up from clubgossip. Then I was told that Guy had picked up a girl from nowhere,about whom nothing was known, and married her on the sly at aregistry-office. I suppose it would be too unkind to assume that Guyhad gone off his head?"
Lord Southleigh growled out from his easy-chair. "Of course he was offhis head when he did it. And the devil of it is he seems just as muchoff his head now. They are like turtle-doves, my dear boy, afterseveral months of marriage."
Lady Nina laughed. "My dear father gets more cynical every day. Heinsinuates as a general proposition, anyway it can be deduced from hisremarks, that every man who marries a girl for love ought to bedisillusioned shortly after the honeymoon. Well, certainly Guy is asmuch in love as ever, and, to be quite fair, she seems just as much inlove with him."
"She's putting it on, I suppose," suggested Hugh, who in a lessobtrusive fashion was nearly as cynical as his host. "If she came fromnowhere, and nobody knows anything about her, we may safely assume thatshe married him for his money, and that he was too infatuated torecognise the fact. Is she very bewitching?"
"She is certainly very good-looking," was Nina's reply. "Many peoplesay she is beautiful. From a man's
point of view, she would beconsidered very charming in a subtle and elusive sort of way. Ofcourse, my father hates her, it is a terrible shock to his pride tothink she is going to inherit the family honours. Guy could havemarried anybody, although there would always have been still the dangerthat he would have been married for his money. When it comes to thispoint, there is not much difference between the well-born and low-bornadventuress."
From which remarks it will be gathered that the Lady Nina Spencer was ayoung woman of independent opinions, and not too strongly imbued withcaste prejudices.
Hugh reflected for a few moments. His thoughts had travelled back tothose days at Blankfield, which now seemed so very far off. What follywill not a certain type of man commit for the sake of a pretty woman?Jack Pomfret, in a moment of frenzy, had taken his life when he found hewas tied up to a girl the accomplice and the decoy of a criminal.
And Guy Spencer, a man of a very different type from the easy-going,pleasure-loving Pomfret, had made a hash of his opportunities, floutedhis family obligations, to pursue the desire of the moment, to marry outof his own class.
"What I hear is, that there is something very mysterious about her, thatshe preserves a strange reticence as to her past, makes no allusion tofamily or relatives. Does Guy know what other people do not know, andis he keeping his mouth shut? It is strange. Even if a man marries aballet-girl, it comes out sooner or later that her father was a railwayporter, or something of that sort." He pulled himself up suddenly, andadded, awkwardly: "I say, you know, I am afraid I have been veryindiscreet. I forgot for the moment that she is one of the family now."
A deep growl came from the Earl's