CHAPTER IX.
Clarence Mills, invited to be present at the birthday evening, wrote infrolicsome terms, from which the young hostess judged that with him theprogress of love was satisfactory. "My dear young relation, nearPaddington Station, of course I will come to your show. If forced toleave early, you won't think me surly; I have to meet some one youknow!" To this Gertie sent a card begging Miss Loriner to includeherself in the invitation, and that young woman forwarded a telegramfrom Ewelme with the word "Delighted."
"Now"--to herself hopefully--"now I shall hear some news about him!"
Gertie decided the evening should differ from evenings which hadpreceded it, in that the entire expense was to be borne by herself; andMrs. Mills therefore only offered a feeble objection when the girlarranged that the front room upstairs was to be turned out, rout seatshired, and a few articles of furniture, including the piano-forte(which, at one perilous moment, threatened to remain for the rest ofits life at the turn of the staircase), transferred from the shopparlour. Bulpert announced his intention of taking charge of themusical and dramatic part of the entertainment. Bulpert no longerconsidered himself a visitor at Praed Street, and on one occasion heentered a stern protest when he found Mr. Trew's hat there, restingupon the peg which he considered his own. Twice he had suggested thatGertie should lend him half a sovereign, reducing the amount, bystages, to eighteenpence; but she answered definitely that advances ofthis kind interfered with friendship, and she preferred not to startthe practice.
"I could let you have it back in a fortnight."
"Perhaps!" she said. "And if you did, you would be under theimpression that you were doing me a great favour."
"I like to see a girl economical," he remarked, frowning, "but there'sa diff'rence between that and being miserly. And," with resolution, "Igo further, and I say that if there's anybody who's got a just and fairand proper claim on your consideration, it is F. W. B."
"There's some one who comes before you."
"The name, please?"
"Myself," replied Gertie.
The question of conciliating Miss Rabbit at Great Titchfield Street hadbeen solved, and matters there were going smoothly. Miss Rabbitcontinued to hold her title of forewoman, although she was no longerforewoman; and Miss Higham took the label of secretary, which welldescribed duties she did not perform. The girls in the workroom madeno concealment of their satisfaction with the change, and men at thelooms upstairs came individually to Gertie and said, "Look here, miss!If ever you have any difficulty or awk'ardness or anything of the kindwith the other chaps, just give the word, and I'll put it all right."
Bunny, for the preservation of friendship, went down on the birthdayparty list, and Miss Radford (who had not been seen for some time) andtwo girls (formerly at school with Gertie, and then known as a coupleof terrors, but now grown tall and distinguished, and doing well in anotable shop in Westbourne Grove), and, of course, Mr. Trew, and twofriends of Bulpert's, whom he guaranteed capable of keeping any partyon the go. Mrs. Mills checked the names, expressed satisfaction.
"I was half afraid," she said, "you'd want to send a note to that younggentleman who lives near where I was brought up."
"If he came here," replied the girl steadily, "I should only fall inlove with him again, and that would complicate matters."
"I think you're wise," approved Mrs. Mills.
A charwoman from Sale Street came in to scrub floors, to see tofireplaces, and to renovate apartments generally--a slow worker, onaccount of some affection of the heart, but an uncommonly good talker.When human intercourse failed she addressed articles of furniture,asking them how much they cost originally, and, sarcastically, whetherthey were under the impression that they looked as good as new; to someshe gave the assurance that if she were to meet them at a jumble sale,she would pass by without a second glance. The charwoman suggested, atthe completion of her task, and rolling up her square mat with the careof one belonging to an Oriental sect, that her help should be engagedfor the party; Mrs. Mills replied that if they required help, some oneof more active methods and of less years would be approached.
"Right you are!" she said, taking her money from the counter. "In thatcase, I'll send along my Sarah."
To suit the young hostess, and to meet the convenience of one or two ofthe guests, the party began at an hour that was quite fashionably late.Miss Radford came early, excusing herself for this breach of decorum onthe grounds that it made her painfully nervous to enter a room whenstrangers were present; apart from which, to arrive in good time meantthat one had a chance of looking at oneself in the mirror. Did Gertieconsider that her (Miss Radford's) complexion was showing signs ofgoing off? A lady friend, who, from the description given, seemed tobe neither a friend nor a lady, had mentioned that Miss Radford wasbeginning to look her full age; and remarks of this kind might becontradicted but could not be ignored.
"Don't you ever get anxious about your personal appearance?" sheinquired.
"Not specially."
"I suppose," agreed Miss Radford, "that being properly engaged doesmake you a bit less anxious."
Clarence came with Miss Loriner, and the young hostess flushed at theyoung woman's first words. Henry sent his best regards. Henry, itappeared, no longer spent week-ends at Ewelme--this because of somewant of agreement with Lady Douglass; and he was now busy in connectionwith a sanatorium at Walton-on-Naze, which demanded frequent journeysfrom Liverpool Street. Gertie, in taking Miss Loriner to get rid ofhat and dust-cloak in the adjoining room, felt it good to find herselfremembered. Miss Loriner wanted a small fan, and searching thehand-bag which she had brought, first looked puzzled, and then becameenlightened.
"I've brought Lady Douglass's bag by mistake," she cried,self-reproachfully. "Here are her initials in the corner--'M. D.'; not'M. L.'" Miss Loriner gave an ejaculation.
"What is it you've found there?"
"This," announced the other deliberately, "is the missing key of thebilliard-room at Morden Place!"
The two girls looked at each other, and Gertie nodded.
"I've been blaming her brother all along for that trick."
"My dear girl," demanded Miss Loriner, "aren't you fearfully excitedand indignant about it?"
"Doesn't seem to matter much now. But," smiling, "she is a character,isn't she? I pity you if she often does things like that."
"I shall be uncommonly glad," admitted the other, "when Clarence earnsthree hundred a year. Do you know that if you had stayed on at MordenPlace, this key would most likely have been found in your portmanteau."
Frederick Bulpert, arriving with his friends, asserted his position byattempting to kiss Gertie; she drew back, and Bulpert said manfullythat if she could do without it he could also afford to dispense withthe ceremony. He introduced his companions as two of the very best andbrightest, and they intimated, by a modest shrug of the shoulders, thatthis might be taken as a correct description. The sisters ofWestbourne Grove came bearing a highly-ornamental cardboard case with adecoration of angels, and containing a pair of gloves. They mentionedthat if the size was not correct the gloves could be changed, and atonce took seats in the corner of the room, whence they surveyed thecompany with a critical air, sighing in unison, as though regrettingdeeply their mad impulsiveness in accepting the invitation. On this,other presents were offered; Bulpert said his memento would come lateron. One of his friends sat on the music-stool, and Sarah, thecharwoman's daughter, entering at the first chord with a tray that heldsandwiches and cakes, said to him casually, "Hullo, George, you on inthis scene?" and handed around the refreshments. Bulpert's friend,disturbed by the incident, waited until the girl left the room, andthen explained that he had met her in pantomime, the previousChristmas, at the West London Theatre; he argued forcibly that peopleencountered behind the footlights had no right to claim acquaintanceoutside. "Otherwise," contended Bulpert's friend, "we're none of ussafe." He was induced to give his song, and the first lines,--
"I went to Margate, once I did, to spend my holidee, Such funny things you seem to see beside the silver sea"
suggested that he was not one disposed to worship originality or make afetish of invention. Bulpert, at the end, pointed out that his friendhad omitted the last verse; the man at the pianoforte said there weresome places where he was in the habit of giving the last verse; this,he declared flatteringly, was not one of them. Gertie's aunt cameupstairs to announce that, the occasion being special, she had taken itupon herself to put up the shutters. If they excused her for half asecond this would give her sufficient space to tittivate and smarten up.
"Say when you want me to liven 'em up, Gertie," remarked Bulpert.
"Go and be nice to those two sisters in the corner."
"When we're married," he said, "we'll often give little affairs of thiskind. I'm a great believer in hospitality myself."
As he did not appear to make a great deal of headway with theWestbourne Grove ladies, he was recalled and the task handed over toClarence Mills. Clarence scored an immediate success. The sisters, itseemed, prided themselves upon being tremendous readers; Clarence wasacquainted with some of the writers who, to them, were only names. Andthe young hostess would have been able to survey the room withcontentment, but for the fact that Miss Radford suddenly becamedepressed--with hands clasped over a knee she rocked to and fro in herchair. Gertie discovered that to her friend had just come theterrifying thought that no one loved her, nobody cared for her, and forall practical purposes Miss Radford might as well be dead and buried,with daisies growing over her grave. Gertie argued against thismelancholy attitude, and the other explained that it came to her onlyat moments when every one else was jolly and cheerful, adding defiantlythat she could not avoid it, and did not mean to avoid it.
"People," declared Miss Radford with truculence, "have to take me asthey happen to find me!"
Bulpert's second friend, advancing with a pack of cards, asked if MissRadford would kindly select one and tell him the description. "TheQueen of Hearts? Nothing," said Bulpert's second friend, with agallant bow, "nothing could be more appropriate." Miss Radford cried,"Oh, what a cheeky thing to say!" and at once bade farewell tomelancholy.
A wonderful man, the second friend--able to do everything with cardsthat ordinary folk deemed impossible. If you selected a card and toreit up; and he presently--talking all the while--produced a card, andsaid in the politest way, "I think that is yours, madam?" and youremarked that this was the four of clubs, whereas you selected thefive, he exclaimed, with pretence of irritation, "Well, what is thereto grumble at?" and, looking again, you saw that it had changed to thefive of clubs. There was nothing to do but to applaud and wonder. Heswallowed cards, and produced them with a slight click from his elbow,the middle of his back, and his ankle. He allowed Miss Loriner to findthe four aces and put them at the bottom of the pack, and the nextmoment asked Mr. Trew, who had just arrived, to produce them from theinside pocket of his coat. Mr. Trew had some difficulty in findingthem, but the conjurer assisted, and there were the four aces; and Mr.Trew, after denying the suggestion that he had come prepared to playwhist, admitted the young man was a masterpiece. Mr. Trew's watch wasnext borrowed and wrapped in paper; the poker borrowed in order tosmash it; the violent blow given. Miss Radford was asked to be so verykind as to assist by looking in the plate of nuts that stood on thetable, and there the watch was discovered, safe and sound. Somethought-reading followed, not easy to understand because of theincessant monologue kept up by the gifted youth; but the results weresatisfactory, and by pressing the folded pieces of paper very hardagainst his forehead, he was able to announce the names written within.
"This is yours, I think, Miss Higham. Now, I don't guarantee success,mind you, in every case, but--the name, I think, is Henry"--hecontorted his features--"Henry Douglass. Is that right, may I ask?"
"Quite correct!" replied Gertie.
"What did you want to write his name for?" demanded Bulpert, seatednext to her.
"It was the first that came into my head."
"Kindly keep it out of your head in future," he ordered, "or elsethere'll be ructions."
Did the ladies object to smoke? asked some one. The ladies answered,separately and collectively, that they adored smoke; the WestbourneGrove young women, now in excellent fettle, admitted that, at times,they themselves enjoyed a cigarette, but could not be persuaded to givea public exhibition of their powers. They did, however, agree to givea short sketch entitled "Who is Who?" and the hearthrug was given up tothem; and if they had not made so many corrections--neither appeared tobe well acquainted with her own part in the piece, but each was letterperfect in the part of the other--the duologue would have been a greatsuccess.
"And now," said Mrs. Mills, "let's see about refreshments. Mr. Trew,where's that corkscrew of yours?"
"Isn't it about time I was asked to do something?" demanded Bulpert,with an injured air.
"Let us see you do your celebrated trick," suggested Gertie's aunt,with irony, "of eating nearly everything there is on the table. That'swhat you're really clever at."
Miss Radford, by a sudden inspiration, suggested the ladies should waitupon the gentlemen, and herself took a plate to Bulpert's conjuringfriend; the example was imitated. Mr. Trew, attended to by Gertie,declared it a real treat to see her looking like his own little friendonce again.
"Makes me think," he said, "that if there wasn't quite so muchdiplomacy about on the part of those of us who reckon we knoweverything, you young uns would get a far better chance. Speaking asone who's been a fusser all my life, that's my candid opinion."
"If you interfered, Mr. Trew, you would interfere wisely."
He emptied his glass in one drink, and set it upon the mantelpiece. "Iwouldn't kiss the book on that, if I was you," he replied. "But whatyou can be very well certain about is that if I saw the chance of doinganything for you--"
Miss Rabbit was announced by Sarah, and Gertie had to leave Mr. Trew inorder to make much of her colleague. Bulpert, having edged other folkfrom the hearthrug, announced that he was about to give, with the aidof memory, a short incident of the American Civil War; to hisastonishment and open indignation, one of the Westbourne Grove girlsarrested him with the suggestion that instead they should all have agame. Challenged to indicate one, she asked what was the matter withmusical chairs. So chairs were placed down the centre of the room,facing opposite ways alternately. Gertie went to the pianoforte, andall prepared to join, with the exception of Bulpert, who, in thecorner, and his back to the others, ate sandwiches.
Admirable confusion, thanks to Gertie's ingenious playing. As theystarted to march warily in a line up and down the row, she, aftergiving the first bar, stopped, and they had to rush for seats.Clarence Mills was left out and a chair withdrawn. The next trial wasmuch longer, and only when caution was being relaxed did the musiccease; Miss Loriner, defeated at this bye-election, had to take a seatnear to Clarence. The joyousness was so pronounced that Bulpert foundhimself to take some interest, and when Mrs. Mills, left in with Mr.Trew, eventually won the game, he urged it should be restarted, andthat some other lady should play the music. On the first arrest byMiss Rabbit at the pianoforte, he sat himself on a chair alreadyoccupied by Gertie. At the moment, Sarah appeared again at the doorway.
"A young man," she announced importantly. "A gentleman this time."
Henry Douglass came in. Gertie struggled to disengage herself, butBulpert declined to move.
"Mrs. Mills, I must apologize for calling at this late hour."
"Don't mention it, sir."
"I have just had a message from my sister-in-law, and I wanted to seeMiss Loriner. Lady Douglass has been taken seriously ill."
Mr. Trew took Bulpert by the collar and sent him with a jerk againstthe wall. Gertie, flushed and confused, shook hands with Henry.
"I'm not going to break up your evening," he said, looking at hereagerly. "The matter is urgent, or I wouldn't have dared
to call."
"We are always," she stammered, "always pleased to see you, Mr.Douglass."
"My dear mother asked me to give you her love when I met you. There isa car waiting," he went on, addressing Miss Loriner; "could you manageto come now? We can do it in little over a couple of hours."
Gertie took Miss Loriner into the adjoining room.
"If she's really ill," said the girl, "don't tell him anything aboutthe key. He can hear it all, later on. And nobody at Praed Streetknows anything about the affair."
Bulpert declined to escort Miss Rabbit to her omnibus, and, in spite ofhints from Mrs. Mills, remained when all the other guests had departed.He took opportunity to criticize the management of the evening, and todeplore the fact that his services had not been utilized. Making anestimate of the total cost, he again referred to his suggestion inregard to a series of similar entertainments later on.
"If you find you can afford it," agreed Gertie.
"If I can afford it!" he echoed surprisedly. "There's no question ofme affording it. Why don't you talk sense? You'll be earning the samegood salary after we're spliced as you're earning at the presentmoment."
"No!" she answered definitely. "When I'm married I give up work atGreat Titchfield Street."
"Why, of course," agreed Mrs. Mills. "She'll have her home duties toattend to."
Bulpert stared at the two separately. Then he rose, pulled at hiswaistcoat, and went without speaking a word.
"He's took the precaution," remarked Sarah, coming in to clear, as abang sounded below, "to shut the door after him."
Mrs. Mills, reviewing the party, and expressing the hope that all hadenjoyed themselves, mentioned that Miss Rabbit in the course of theevening made a statement to her which had, apparently, been weighing onthe lady's mind. Miss Rabbit reproached herself for giving wronginformation in regard to the stability of the firm of Hilbert, andbegged Mrs. Mills would explain. In her own phrase she tried to outGertie, and as this had not come off, her suggestion was that bygonesshould be considered as bygones, and nothing more said about the matter.
"It isn't such a bad world," decided Mrs. Mills, "if you only come tolook at it in a good light."
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