Peregrine's Progress

by Jeffery Farnol

  CHAPTER IV

  OF A SCARABAEUS RING AND A GOSSAMER VEIL

  "Ye're a little pale--yes, a trifle haggard, Perry, but there'snothing like a romantic pallor to attract the feminine regard andcaptivate the female heart, my boy--I'm married and I know! But yourdress is a thought too sombre, I think, considering your youth, thoughI'll admit it suits you and there's a devilish tragic melancholyDanish-air about ye as should nail the female orb--"

  "Don't be an ass, Anthony. How is my cravat?"

  "Work of art, begad! How are my pantaloons, Perry? My tailor's made'em too loose, the damned scoundrel. I'm wrinkled like a rhinoceros,by heaven! Keep your eye on 'em when I bend--"

  "My dear Anthony," said I, "if they were any tighter you couldn'tbend--"

  "Well, my coat, Perry--how is it behind?"

  "Admirable!"

  "Feels like a sack, demmit! My Loveliness has the eye of a hawk,you'll understand--hasn't seen me for a whole month--nothing likefirst impressions, begad. Feels like an accursed sack, I tell you--"

  "Gentlemen, the carriage awaits!" murmured Clegg from the doorway.

  "What--already?" cried Anthony, clapping on his hat and reaching forhis surtout.

  "You forget we're Lord Wyvelstoke's privileged guests.--Come,Anthony!" and I led the way down to the carriage.

  "Ain't you nervous, Perry?" enquired my friend, as we rolled smoothlyaway.

  "No."

  "Queer fish--I am!" said he, fidgeting with his cravat.

  "You're deuced cool, devilish serene and enigmatical at times, likeyour uncle Jervas."

  "You flatter me, Tony."

  "Devil a bit--and this coat of mine feels like a--what the devil arewe stopping for?"

  We had reached the top of St. James's Street and glancing through thewindow, I saw our progress blocked momentarily by converging traffic;I was about to lean back in my seat again when my careless glance wasarrested by an elegant closed chaise going in the opposite direction;the light was still good, and thus I saw this for a black-bodiedchaise picked out in yellow with red wheels. The window was down andthence fluttered a lady's scarf or veil, a delicate gossamer thingspangled with gold stars; as I watched, from the dim interior of thechaise came a woman's white hand to gather up this glittering scarf, ashapely hand sparkling with gems, amongst which I saw one shaped likea scarabaeus; then the chaise rolled away and was gone.

  "What the dooce are you staring at, Perry?"

  "Nothing!" I answered, frowning. "Nothing!"

  His lordship's house was ablaze with lights and, though we were soearly, in the street immediately before it was a crowd that pushed andjostled as we mounted the carpeted steps and were ushered into thelofty hall. Here, the footmen having relieved us of our hats andcoats, we found the sedate Atkinson as gravely imperturbable as Iremembered him two years ago, who acknowledged my greeting with sedatesmile and grave obeisance and brought us forthwith to a chamber whereI found Lord Wyvelstoke in confabulation with my two uncles.

  At our entrance they rose, and his lordship limped forward to welcomeus; and looking upon his slender, elegant figure, beholding hisimpassive face with its air of serene and conscious power, I warmed tothe kindness of his smile, even as I had done two years ago.

  Our greetings over, his lordship slipped his arm in mine and led meapart.

  "Well, Peregrine," said he, with his old, keen look, "I perceive yourtwo years of self-sacrifice have not been in vain; you are grown inevery sense. And to-night unselfishness shall have its full reward.To-night, Peregrine, I render back to you your Diana, but a Dianaglorified--a woman, and one who has endeared herself to me by hergreat-hearted and noble qualities. In her is nothing paltry, educationhas not stunted or narrowed the soul of her. She has been faithful toher task for your sake and faithful to you for Love's sake. By yourunselfishness she has indeed become all that we hoped--and more, oneto be proud of. But I grow garrulous in her praise--go to her and seefor yourself. She is awaiting you in her boudoir with Mrs.Vere-Manville."

  So saying, his lordship rang and the silent Atkinson appeared, who ledus up a wide stairway and so to a dainty chamber where, bowing, heleft us.

  A faint perfume was in the air, elusive but sweetly intimate. Upon anottoman lay a fan and a pair of lace mittens.

  "Begad," murmured Anthony, sniffing, "there's nothing like perfume togive a fellow palpitations, and palpitations always make my cravat tootight--devilish thing's choking me! A good woman, Perry, can be themost doocedly alluring, devilish engaging, utterly provoking creaturein creation--far more so than--t' other sort. I'm married and I know!"

  "Yes," said I, looking down at the discarded fan and deeply stirred bythe elusive fragrance.

  "Devil take this cravat!" exclaimed Anthony, wrestling with it beforea mirror. "If they don't come soon, 't will be wreck, demmit! I wishto heaven they'd come."

  "So do I, Anthony!"

  "Finishing touches, I expect, Perry--they will do it! And mean tosurprise us, of course." But as moment after moment elapsed, hisimpatience grew. "I wonder what's keeping 'em!" he exclaimed.

  "I wonder!" said I.

  At the end of ten minutes he was striding up and down the room in avery ferment.

  "Damned strange!" he muttered. "Devilish incomprehensible! They mustknow we're here. Been waiting fifteen minutes now, begad! Gettingbeyond a joke--deuced exasperating, Perry, y' know. Dammit, man, whycan't you say something, do something, instead of sitting there sodevilish calm and serene, staring before you like an infernal sphinx?"

  At the end of twenty minutes Anthony could wait no more and bidding mefollow, jerked open the door and strode out. But I sat there staringbefore me at an empty fireplace and still all my thought was of thechaise with the red wheels.

  But presently my gaze came by chance upon something that lay in acorner of the hearth, a piece of paper crumpled and rent as inpassionate haste. For a while I viewed it idly, heedlessly, then allat once I saw a name, a scrawling signature plain to read; next momentthe fragment of paper was in my grasp and I read this:

  ... confess to find you more bewitchingly beautiful than ever. And therefore, having regard to what transpired between us in Italy, you will come this evening without fail to Your ever adoring slave and master, HAREDALE.

  How long I remained staring at this fragment of paper I do not know,but I started suddenly to see Atkinson bowing in the doorway andfollowed him from the room and downstairs and suddenly found myself ina polite tumult; silks rustled, feathers nodded, turbans bowed andjewels glittered.

  But almost at once, amid all this throng, my eyes saw but one. Tallshe was, with jewels that sparkled in her dark and lustrous hair; howshe was gowned I cannot remember, but her white throat was unadornedsave for a small gold chain whence hung a plain gold locket, at sightof which my heart seemed to swell within me.

  Flushed and bright-eyed, she stood beside Lord Wyvelstoke to receivethe many guests. And viewing her as I stood thus, myself unseen amidthe crowd, beholding her serene and noble carriage, her vividcolouring, the classic mould of form and features, the grace and easeof her every movement, I saw she was indeed more beautiful than Idreamed and caught my breath in a very ecstasy. Here was Dianaherself, yet a Diana glorified even as Lord Wyvelstoke had said, andwith a thousand elusive graces beyond my poor description.

  And now I was bowing before her, heard her tremulous murmur of"Peregrine!" and answered back as tremulously, "Diana!" and so,yielding place to others, I passed on, to bow and smile and chatterinanities with such of the guests as were of my acquaintance, butyearning for chance of speech with her alone.

  Then, somehow, she was beside me, her hand upon my arm, and we werewalking, though whither I cared not, my every sense thrilled by hergracious ease, her stately beauty and all the wonder of her.

  I remember we sat and talked of the past two years, of much that shehad seen and done; and she questioned me a little breathlessly andalways of myself, and I, conscious of the many bewildering changes inher and of those
deep, grey eyes looking at me beneath their levelbrows, or hidden by their down-sweeping black lashes, answered brieflyor very much at random, so that she questioned me at last:

  "Peregrine, are you listening?"

  "Yes--no!" I answered. "How can I? You are so--wonderful!"

  At this the rich colour deepened in her cheek and her eyes grewineffably tender.

  "And you," she murmured, "you are still my Peregrine of the SilentPlaces, the gentleman who stooped to teach me that love could be--aholy thing--"

  From the distance stole the sound of music and suddenly, as ifconjured up of these sweet strains, were eager gentlemen all about us,vying with each other for the honour of escorting her down to theballroom.

  "Miss Lovel," simpered a gallant young exquisite, his fashionablypallid features peeping out between the silkiest of glossy whiskers,"we are to be favahed, I think, to be charmed and delighted by yourincomparable singing--aw, how do, Vereker! Miss Lovel, you behold me ahumble ambassador, to beg, to entreat you to keep us waiting nolonger--"

  "The evening is young, my lord," she answered lightly, "though yourimpatience is flattering, I vow--"

  "Impatience, Miss Lovel?" sighed a gorgeous being in scarlet andepaulettes. "Impatience--haw--is quite inadequate to expressour--hum--I should say, my own sentiments; 'impatience' is a wordtoo--ha--altogether too feeble! For my own part I should--haw--Ishould rather say we--"

  "Passion, ma'm, passion!" exclaimed a square-faced gentleman in navalblue. "Speaking as a blunt sailor, passion's the word, MissLovel--passion. Passion's the only word, I think, gentlemen?"

  "Indubitably!"

  "Positively!"

  "Per-fectly!"

  Hereupon the Army retired a little discomfited but ralliedsufficiently to suggest the word "languish."

  "Behold us then, Miss Lovel, passioning--" said the Navy.

  "And--haw--languishing, Miss Lovel--" sighed the Army.

  "Behold us then unanimously beseeching you--aha, here comes Pevenseyto add his supplication to ours."

  The Duke shot his ruffle, fixed his eyeglass and bowed.

  "Permit me, Miss Lovel, to add my petition! Vereker will spare you tous awhile, I am sure!" said he. "To behold a goddess is to be blessed;to hear her sing will be--"

  "Joy!" suggested the Navy.

  "Divine!" sighed the Army.

  "Transcendent rapture!" quoth the Duke.

  Diana laughed and rose, looking from one to other with that serene andlevel gaze I knew so well, and saluted them with a slow and gracefulcurtsey.

  "Indeed you overwhelm me, sirs," said she, smiling. "Your impatienceshall be satisfied, you shall passion and languish no longer!" And nowas I bowed above her hand came her whisper, "I go to sing for you--toyou, Peregrine!"

  Then, giving her fan to Navy and her gloves to Army, she took theDuke's arm, and moved away.

  And in a while, sitting in a corner of the great ballroom between mytwo uncles, I saw her stand before this august assemblage serene inher proud, young beauty; saw her calm gaze seek until it met mine anddrew my breath a little quicker because of her very loveliness.

  Then I felt the smart of sudden tears as from the orchestra whispereda loved and familiar melody that rose, little by little, into thatwild and plaintive Zingari air she had sung so often in the SilentPlaces years ago.

  And now from her white throat stole a murmur of sweet sound, swellinggradually to a full, round sweetness, rising to a passion of sorrowand heartbreak, and dying to a sigh, was gone.

  For a long moment after the final liquid note had died away was utterstillness, an awed silence; then some one ventured to clap, othersjoined in, and upon this sound came shouts, cries, cheer on cheer--afrantic ovation.

  "By Gad, Perry," exclaimed my uncle George, blinking moist lashes."She--she can sing, ye know! What I mean is she can--sing, b'gad! Whatd' you say, Jervas?"

  "That you are exactly right, George, she can sing!" answered my uncleJervas softly. "She and her voice are one in beauty. And she signalsyou, Perry, I think!"

  "Be off, Peregrine!" said my uncle George. "Be off, lucky dog--Londonwill run mad--she'll be the reigning toast to-morrow."

  The Army and the Navy yielded her to me with a somewhat bad grace, andher slim fingers on my arm guided me through the throng to a deepcurtained window recess, and in this comparative seclusion she turnedand faced me, and I saw that she was trembling a little.

  "Peregrine," she murmured, wistful and eager, "am I changed verymuch--too much? I have worked--so hard and all--all for you--OPeregrine--dear--do I truly please you?"

  "Please me!" I mumbled. "Oh, my Diana--!" Her lashes drooped and then,as she swayed to me, I clasped her in my arms and, tremulous,fragrant, vital with love and youth, she gave her lips to mine.

  "Is it worth the years of waiting?" she whispered beneath my kisses.

  "God knows it!" I answered and lifted her hand to my lips and thenstood utterly still, cold with a sudden, horrible sickness--staring atthis white hand, where, amid sparkling gems, I saw the dull oval of ascarabaeus ring.

  "What is it, Peregrine?" she questioned, a little breathlessly. "Thisscarab? It is one my dear pal bought me in Egypt. Come away, dear, letus run from the crowd--let us steal away together,somewhere--anywhere--you and I." And speaking, she drew about hershoulders a scarf, a filmy thing of gossamer, spangled with gold stars."Quick, Peregrine!" she breathed. "There is the duke--coming this way,quick--before he spies us!"

  "Impossible!" I answered, wondering to hear myself speaking solightly. "His Grace has seen us already--besides, your duty lies hereto-night."

  "Very well, dear Peregrine," she sighed, "but I had hoped you--youwould have bade me forget duty--a little while."

  So she turned away and indistinctly I heard the duke begging her tosing again; then I watched her go, smiling and bowing to her, but witha buzzing in my brain and all hell raging in my breast.

  A black-bodied chaise--picked out in yellow--red wheels--CaptainDanby!

  For a long time I stood in the shadow of the window curtains staringout upon a moon hidden ever and anon in flying cloud-wrack; but atlast I turned and wandered away with some vague idea of findingAnthony, and as I went, the lights and glitter, the sounds of voicesand laughter grew ever more distasteful, and turning my back on itall, I found my way into a wide corridor. And here, in a shady alcovescreened by curtains, I espied Anthony kissing his wife; her round,white arms were about his neck, crushing his cravat woefully, butseeing the rapture in their faces I stole away and left them.

  Reaching the hall I bade a footman summon my carriage, but on secondthoughts countermanded the order and, donning hat and cloak, set outto walk home to my chambers. A wind was abroad and I walked bareheadedto cool the fevered throbbing of my temples, but this wind foundvoices to mock me and at my heels ran demons, gibbering obscenities.

  Reaching my door at last, I thundered on the knocker until it opened,and brushing past the pallid Clegg, bade him order my horse.

  "Horse, sir?" he repeated, a note of interest in his usually tonelessvoice. "Do you propose to go riding, sir?"

  "I do!"

  "Yes, sir--which horse do you--?"

  "Wildfire. Have him brought round at once!"

  "Very good, sir!"

  Not waiting for Clegg's assistance, I slipped off my evening garmentsand was pulling on my riding boots when I heard the tattoo ofWildfire's impatient hoofs upon the roadway.

  "What time may I expect you back, sir?" enquired Clegg, as I jingleddownstairs.

  "I cannot say. I may be late or very early so--get to bed."

  "If you are travelling far, sir, might I suggest that your pistols areready in their holsters upstairs--"

  "I shall not need them!" said I, and stepped out into the street whereWildfire danced and capered in the grasp of Tom, my groom.

  "He do be werry fresh, sir," warned Tom.

  "So much the better!" said I. "Hold him until I give the word."

  So saying, I swung to saddle, settled
feet in stirrups and gripped thereins short in gloved hand.

  "An evil night, sir!" said Clegg. "And you won't take your pistols?"

  "No! Let go, Tom!"

  Back sprang the groom and, snorting joyfully, Wildfire sprang away.