Beyond The Rocks: A Love Story Read online

  XXIII

  Beechleigh was really a fine place, built by Vanbrugh in his best days.

  Three tiers of fifteen tall windows looked to the north in a front andtwo short wings, while colonnades led down to splendid wrought-irongates, and blocks of buildings constructed in the same stately style.Fifteen more windows faced the south; and the centre one of the firstfloor led, with sweeping steps, to a terrace, while seven casementsadorned each of the eastern and western sides.

  On the southern side the view, for that rather flat country, was superb.

  It gave, from a considerable elevation--through a wide opening of giantoaks and elms--a peep of the lake a mile below, and on in a long avenueof turf to a vista of smiling country.

  On the splendid terrace peacocks spread their tails, and vases of carvedstone broke at intervals the gray old balustrade.

  Inside the house was equally nobly planned: all the rooms of greatheight and perfect proportion, and filled with pictures and tapestriesand bronzes and antiques of immense value.

  It had come to these spendthrift Irish Fitzgeralds through theirgrandmother, the last of an old ducal race. And two generations ofHibernian influence had curtailed the fine fortune which went with it,until Sir Patrick often felt it no easy matter to make both ends meet inthe luxurious and gilded fashion which was necessary to himself and hisfriends.

  If he and Lady Ada pinched and scraped when alone, keeping few servantson board wages, the parties, at all events, were done with all theirwonted regal splendor.

  "I shall stay with you, Patrick, as long as you can afford this cook,"Lady Harrowfield said once to him; "but when you begin to economize,don't trouble to ask me. I hate poor people, when it shows."

  A promising son, on the true Fitzgerald lines, was at Oxford now, andgave many anxious crows'-feet full opportunity of developing round hismother's faded eyes.

  A plain daughter, Barbara, was pushed into corners and left much toherself. And a brilliant, flashing, up-to-date niece of Lady Ada's tookalways the first place.

  Mildred was so clever, and her lovers were so well chosen, and sothoroughly of the right set or of great wealth; while a puny husband washelped to something in South Africa, when the man in possession was aJew--or as agent for tea and jam in the colonies--when he happened to beonly a colossally successful Englishman. And once, during a prominentpolitician's reign, poor Willie Verner enjoyed a few months in his ownland as secretary to a newly started Radical club.

  This Whitsuntide party was perhaps the smartest of the year.

  By Saturday evening over thirty people would be gathered together underthe Beechleigh roof.

  Josiah, though exceedingly proud and pleased at the invitation, feltnervous at the thought of the visit. Not so Mr. Toplington, who,although he knew he should probably have to blush for his master, andmight get a very secondary place in the "room," still felt he would holdhis own when he could let it be known what magnificent wages he receivedfrom Mr. Brown.

  "A long sight more than I'd get out of any lord," he thought. "And moneyis money. And all classes feels it."

  Theodora, on the contrary, was neither proud nor pleased. She lookedforward to the visit with excitement and dread.

  Hector would be there, among all these people whom she did not know. Andher awakened heart had begun to tell her that she loved him wildly, andto see him could only be alternate mad joy and remorse and anguish.

  It was still drizzling on the Saturday afternoon when they arrived. Sotea awaited them in the great saloon which made the centre of the northside of the house. Several of the rest of the guests had come down inthe same train, but they did not know them, nor did any of them troublethemselves much to speak to them on the short drive from the station. Afew words, that was all, addressed to Theodora. Josiah was ignored.

  Sir Patrick had always been an excellent host. His genial Irish smile,when in action, concealed the ill-tempered lines of his thin old face.He greeted his guests cordially, and made them welcome to his home.

  Lady Ada had the inherited bad manners of her family, the DeBaronsvilles, who had come over with the Conqueror, and when one has a_cachet_ like that there is no need to trouble one's self further. Thus,while Mildred flashed brilliant witticisms about, plain Barbara sawafter the guests' tea and sugar, and if they took cream or lemon, andtiresome things like that. And as every one knew every one else, and thesame party met continuously all over England, things were very gay andfriendly.

  Only Theodora and Josiah were completely out of it all, and several ofthe guests, who resented the intrusion of these strangers into theircharmed circle, would take care on every opportunity to make them feelit.

  Hector did not get there until half an hour later, in his automobile,which was the mode of arrival with more than two-thirds of the company.

  And until the dressing-gong sounded, a continuous teuf-teuf-teuf mighthave been heard as, one after another, the cars whizzed up to the door.

  Of course, in a troop of over thirty people, naturally some had kindhearts and good manners, but the prevailing tone of this coterie of_creme de la creme_ was one of pure selfishness and blunt and materialbrutality.

  If you were rich and suited them, you were given a nickname probably,and were allowed to play cards with them, and lose your money for theirbenefit. If you were non-congenial you did not exist--that was all. Youmight be sitting in a chair, but they only saw it and an emptyspace--you did not even cumber their ground.

  To do them justice, they preferred people of their own exalted station;outsiders seldom made their way into this holy of holies, however richthey were--unless, of course, they happened to be Mildred's lovers. Thatsituation for a man held special prerogatives, and was greatly covetedby pretenders to this circle of grace.

  Intellectual intelligence was not important. Some of the women of thisselect company had been described by an agricultural duke who had stayedthere as having just enough sense to come in out of the rain.

  Sir Patrick Fitzgerald occasionally departed from the strict limits ofthis set in the big parties--especially lately, when money was becomingscarcer, several financial friends who could put him on to good thingshad been included, the result being that Lady Harrowfield had not alwaysshed the light of her countenance upon the festivities.

  Lord Harrowfield drew most of his income from a great, populousmanufacturing city in the north, so neither he nor his countess had needto smile at mere wealth.

  And Lady Harrowfield had said, frankly, "Let me know if it is a utilityparty, Patrick, or for just ourselves, because if you are going to havethese creatures I sha'n't come."

  This time, however, she had not been so exigent. It happened to suitsome other arrangements of hers to spend Whitsuntide at Beechleigh, soshe consented to chaperon Morella Winmarleigh without asking for a listof the guests.

  Hector had never conformed to any special set; he went here, there, andeverywhere, and was welcomed by all. But somehow, until this occasion,Beechleigh had never seen him within its gates, although LadyHarrowfield had praised him, and Mildred had sighed for him in vain.

  He saw the situation at a glance when he came into the saloon: Josiahand Theodora sitting together, neglected by every one but Barbara. Theycould not have been more than half an hour in the house, he knew, for hehad found out when the trains got in.

  Barbara was a good sort; he remembered now he had met her beforesomewhere. She had evidently taken to the new cousin; but Mildred hadnot.

  Hitherto Mildred had been the undisputed and acknowledged beauty ofevery party, and she resented Theodora's presence because she wasclever enough not to have any illusions upon the matter of their mutuallooks. She saw Theodora was beautiful and young and charming, and hadevery advantage of perfect Paris clothes. Uncle Patrick had been a foolto ask her, and she must take measures to suppress her at once.

  Sir Patrick, on the other hand, was very pleased with himself for havinggiven the invitation. He had made inquiries, and found that Josiah was aman of great and soli
d wealth, with interests in several things whichcould be of particular use to himself, and he meant to obtain what hecould out of him.

  As for Theodora, no living man could do anything but admire her, and SirPatrick was not an Irishman for nothing.

  Hector behaved with tact; he did not at once fly to his darling, butpresently she found him beside her. And the now habitual thrill ran overher when he came near.

  He saw the sudden, convulsive clasp of her little hands together; heknew how he moved her, and it gave him joy.

  The next batch of arrivals contained Lord Wensleydown, who showed nohesitation as to his desired destination in the saloon. He made abee-line for Theodora, and took a low seat at her feet.

  Hector, with more caution, was rather to one side. Rage surged up inhim, although his common-sense told him as yet there was nothing hecould openly object to in Wensleydown's behavior.

  The little picture of these five people--Barbara engaging Josiah, andthe two men vying with each other to please Theodora--was gall andwormwood to Mildred. Freddy Wensleydown had always been one of her mostvalued friends, and for Hector she had often felt she could experience apassion.

  Lord Wensleydown had an immense _cachet_. He was exceedingly ugly andexceedingly smart, and was known to have quite specially attractivemethods of his own in the art of pleasing beautiful ladies. He wasalways unfaithful, too, and they had to make particular efforts toretain him for even a week.

  Hector knew him intimately, of course; they had been in the same houseat Eton, and were comrades of many years' standing, and until Theodora'sentrance upon the scene, Hector had always thought of him as a coarse,jolly beast of extremely good company and quaintness. But now! He had nowords adequate in his vocabulary to express his opinion about him!

  To Theodora he appeared an ugly little man, who reminded her of thestatue of a satyr she knew in the Louvre. That was all!

  At this juncture Lady Harrowfield, accompanied by Morella Winmarleigh,her lord, and one of her _ames damnees_, a certain Captain Forester,appeared upon the scene.

  Their entrance was the important one of the afternoon, and Lady Ada andSir Patrick could not do enough to greet and make them welcome.

  The saloon was so large and the screens so well arranged, that for thefirst few seconds neither of the ladies perceived the fact of Theodora'spresence. But when it burst upon them, both experienced unpleasantsensations.

  Lady Harrowfield's temper was bad in any case on account of the weather,and here, on her arrival, that she should find the impertinent upstartwho had made her look foolish at the Anningford luncheon, was an extrastraw.

  Morella felt furious. It began to dawn upon her this might be Hector'sreason in coming, not herself at all; and one of those slow, internalrages which she seldom indulged in began to creep in her veins.

  Thus it was that poor Theodora, all unconscious of any evil, was alreadysurrounded by three bitter enemies--Mildred, Lady Harrowfield, andMorella Winmarleigh. It did not look as though her Whitsuntide could begoing to contain much joy.

  It was a good deal after six o'clock by now. Bridge-tables had alreadyappeared, and most of the company had commenced to play. Barbara saw thelook in Mildred's eye as she came across, and, ignoring Theodora quite,tried to carry off Lord Wensleydown.

  "You must come, Freddy," she said. "Lady Harrowfield wants to begin herrubber."

  Barbara, knowing what this move meant, and blushing for her cousin'srudeness, nervously introduced Theodora to her.

  "How d' do," said Mildred, staring over her head. "Don't detain LordWensleydown, please, because Lady Harrowfield hates to be kept waiting."

  Theodora rose and smiled, while she said to Barbara: "I am rather tired.Mayn't I go to my room for a little rest before dinner?"

  "Take him, Lady Mildred, do," said Hector; "we don't want him," and helaughed gayly. His beautiful, tender angel might be a match for thesepeople after all. At any rate, he would be at her side to protect herfrom their claws.

  Lord Wensleydown frowned. Mildred was being a damned nuisance, he saidto himself, and he insisted upon accompanying Theodora to the bottom ofthe great staircase, which rose to magnificent galleries in the halladjoining the saloon.

  Sir Patrick had advanced and engaged Josiah in conversation.

  He knew his guests' ways and how they would boycott him, and, with aserious question like those Australian shares on the _tapis_, he was notgoing to have Josiah insulted and ruffled just yet.

  "Don't stay up-stairs all the time," Hector had managed to whisper,while Mildred and Lord Wensleydown stood arguing; "they are sure not todine till nine; there are two hours before you need dress, and we cancertainly find some nice sitting-room to talk in."

  But Theodora, with immense self-denial, had answered: "No, I want towrite a long letter to papa and my sisters. I won't come down againuntil dinner."

  And he was forced to be content with the memory of her soft smile andthe evident regret in her eyes.