The Lion's Share

ENTR’ACTE

After the Spanish Symphony not only the conductor but the entire orchestra followed Musa from the platform, and Audrey understood that the previous interval had not really been an interval and that the first genuine interval was about to begin. The audience seemed to understand this too, for practically the whole of it stood up and moved towards the doors. Audrey would have stayed in her seat, but Miss Ingate expressed a desire to go out and “see the fun” in the foyer, and, moreover, she asserted that the Foas from their box had been signalling to her and Audrey an intention to meet them in the foyer. Miss Ingate was in excellent spirits. She said it beat her how Musa’s fingers could get through so many notes in so short a time, and also that it made her feel tired even to watch the fingers. She was convinced that nobody had ever handled the violin so marvellously before. As for success, Musa had been recalled, and the applause from the gallery, fired by its religious belief, was obstinate and extremely vociferous. Audrey, however, was aware of terrible sick qualms, for she knew that Musa was not so far dominating his public. Much of the applause had obviously the worst quality that applause can have—it was good-natured. Yet she could not accept failure for Musa. Failure would be too monstrous an injustice, and therefore it could not happen.

The emptiness of the Foas’ box indicated that Miss Ingate might be correct in her interpretation of signals, and Audrey allowed herself to be led away from the now forlorn auditorium. As they filed along the gangways she had to listen to the indifferent remarks of utterly unprejudiced and uninterested persons about the performance of genius, and further she had to learn that a fair proportion of them were departing with no intention to return. In the thronged foyer they saw Mr. Gilman, alone, before he saw them. He was carrying a box of chocolates—doubtless one of the little things that Mr. Price had had instructions to provide for the evening, Mr. Gilman perhaps would not have caught sight of them had it not been for the stridency of Miss Ingate’s voice, which caused him to turn round.

Audrey experienced once again the sensation—which latterly was apt to recur in her—of having too many matters on her mind simultaneously; in a phrase, the sensation of the exceeding complexity of existence. And she resented it. The interview with Rosamund was quite enough for one night. It had been a triumph for her; she had surprised herself in that interview; it had left her with a conviction of freedom; it had uplifted her. She ought to have been in a state of exaltation after that interview, and she was. Only, while in a state of exaltation, she was still in the old state of depression—about the tendency of the concert, of her concert, and about the rumoured disappearance of her fortune. Also she was preoccupied by the very strange affair of Jane Foley and Aguilar.

And now—a further intricacy of mood—came a whole new set of emotions due to the mere spectacle of Mr. Gilman’s august back! She was intimidated by Mr. Gilman’s back. She knew horribly that in the afternoon she had treated Mr. Gilman as Mr. Gilman ought never to have been treated. And, quite apart from intimidation, she had another feeling, a feeling which was ghastly and of which she was ashamed.... Assuming the disappearance of her fortune, would Mr. Gilman’s attitude towards her be thereby changed? ... She admitted that young girls ought not to have such suspicions against respectable and mature men of established position in the world. Nevertheless, she could not blow the suspicion away.

But the instant Mr. Gilman’s eye met hers the suspicion vanished, and not the suspicion only, but all her intimidation. The miracle was produced by something in the gaze of Mr. Gilman as it rested on her, something wistful—not more definable than that, something which she had noticed in Mr. Gilman’s gaze on other occasions. It perfectly restored her. It gave her the positive assurance of a fact which marvellously enheartens young girls of about Audrey’s years—to wit, that they have a mysterious power surpassing the power of age, knowledge, wisdom, or wealth, that they influence and decide the course of history, and are the sole true mistresses of the world. Whence the mysterious power sprang she did not exactly know, but she surmised—rightly—that it was connected with her youth, with a dimple, with the incredibly soft down on her cheek, with the arch softness of her glance, with a gesture of the hand, with a turn of the shoulder, with a pleat of the skirt.... Anyhow, she possessed it, and to possess it was to wield it. It transformed her into a delicious tyrant, but a tyrant; it inspired her with exquisite cruelty, but cruelty. Her thoughts might have been summed up in eight words:

“Pooh! He has suffered. Well, he must suffer.”

Ah! But she meant to be very kind to him. He was so reliable, so adorable, and so dependent. She had genuine affection for him. And he was at once a rock and a cushion.

“Isn’t it going splendidly—splendidly, Mr. Gilman?” exclaimed Miss Ingate in her enthusiasm.

“Apparently,” said Mr. Gilman, with comfort in his voice.

At that moment the musical critic with large, dark Eastern eyes, whom Audrey had met at the Foas’, strolled nonchalantly by, and, perceiving Miss Ingate, described a huge and perfect curve in the air with his glossy silk hat, which had been tipped at the back of his head. Mr. Gilman had come close to Audrey.

“The Foas started down with me,” said Mr. Gilman mildly. “But they always meet such crowds of acquaintances at these affairs that they seldom get anywhere. Hortense would not leave the box. She never will.”

“Oh! I’m so glad I’ve seen you,” Audrey began excitedly, but with simplicity and compelling sweetness. “You’ve no idea how sorry I am about this afternoon! I’m frightfully sorry, really! But I was so upset. I didn’t know what to do. You know how anxious everybody was about Musa for to-night. He’s the pet of the Quarter, and, of course, I belong to the Quarter. At least—I did. I thought he might be ill, or something. However, it was all right in the end. I was looking forward tremendously to that drive. Are you going to forgive me?”

“Please, please!” he eagerly entreated, with a faint blush. “Of course, I quite understand. There’s nothing whatever to forgive.”

“Oh! but there is,” she insisted. “Only you’re so good-natured.”

She was being magnanimous. She was pretending that she had no mysterious power. But her motive was quite pure. If he was good-natured, so was she. She honestly wanted to recompense him, and to recompense him richly. And she did. Her demeanour was enchanting in its ingenuous flattery. She felt happy despite all her anxieties, for he was living up to her ideal of him. She felt happy, and her resolve to make him happy to the very limit of his dreams was intense. She had a vision of her future existence stretching out in front of her, and there was not a shadow on it. She thought he was going to offer her the box of chocolates, but he did not.

“I rather wanted to ask your advice,” she said.

“I wish you would,” he replied.

Just then the Foas arrived, and with them Dauphin, the great and fashionable painter and the original discoverer of Musa. And as they all began to speak at once Audrey heard the Oriental musical critic say slowly to an inquiring Miss Ingate:

“It is not a concert talent that he has.”

“You hear! You hear!” exclaimed Monsieur Foa to Monsieur Dauphin and Madame Foa, with an impressed air. “You hear what Miquette says. He has not a concert talent. He has everything that you like, but not a concert talent.”

Foa seemed to be exhibiting the majestic Oriental, nicknamed Miquette, as the final arbiter, whose word settled problems like a sword, and Miquette seemed to be trying to bear the high rôle with negligent modesty.

“But, yes, he has! But, yes, he has!” Dauphin protested, sweeping all Miquettes politely away. And then there was an urbane riot of greetings, salutes, bowings, smilings, cooings and compliments.

Dauphin was magnificent, playing the part of the opulent painter à la mode with the most finished skill, the most splendid richness of detail. It was notorious that in the evenings he wore the finest silk shirts in Paris, and his waistcoat was designed to give scope to these shirts. He might have come—he probably had come—straight from the bower of archduchesses; but he produced in Audrey the illusion that archduchesses were a trifle compared to herself. He had not seen her for a long time. Gazing at her, he breathed relief; all his features indicated the sudden, unexpected assuaging of eternal and intense desires. He might have been travelling through the desert for many days and she might have been the oasis—the pool of living water and the palm.

“Now—like that! Just like that!” he said, holding her hand and, as it were, hypnotising her in the pose in which she happened to be. He looked hard at her. “It is unique. Madame, where did you find that dress?”

“Callot,” answered Audrey submissively.

“I thought so. Well, Madame, I can wait no more. I will wait no more. It is Dauphin who implores you to come to his studio. To come—it is your duty. Madame Foa, you will bring her. I count on you absolutely to bring her. Even if it is only to be a sketch—the merest hint. But I must do it.”

“Oh, yes, Madame,” said Madame Foa with all the Italian charm. “Dauphin must paint you. The contrary is unthinkable. My husband and I have often said so.”

“To-morrow?” Dauphin suggested.

“Ah! To-morrow, my little Dauphin, I cannot,” said Madame Foa.

“Nor I,” said Audrey.

“The day after to-morrow, then. I will send my auto. What address? Half-past eleven. That goes? In any case, I insist. Be kind! Be kind!”

Audrey blushed. Half the foyer was staring at the group. She was flattered. She saw herself remarkable. She thought she would look more particularly, with perfect detachment, at the mirror that night, in order to decide whether her appearance was as striking, as original, as distinguished, as Dauphin’s attitude implied. There must surely be something in it.

“About that advice—may I call to-morrow?” It was Mr. Gilman’s voice at her elbow.

“Advice?” She had forgotten her announced intention of asking his advice. (The subject was to be Zacatecas.) “Oh, yes. How nice of you! Please do call. Come for tea.” She was delightful to him, but at the same time there was in her tone a little of the condescending casualness proper to the tone of a girl openly admired by the confidant and painter of princesses and archduchesses, the man who treated all plain women and women past the prime with a desolating indifference.

She thought:

“I am a rotten little snob.”

Mr. Gilman gave thanksgivings and departed, explaining that he must return to Madame Piriac.

Foa and Dauphin and the Oriental resumed the argument about Musa’s talent and the concert. Miquette would say nothing as to the success of the concert. Foa asserted that the concert was not and would not be a success. Dauphin pooh-poohed and insisted vehemently that the success was unmistakable and increasing. Moreover, he criticised the hall, the choice of programme, the orchestra, the conductor. “I discovered Musa,” said he. “I have always said that he is a great concert player, and that he is destined for a great world-success, and to-night I am more sure of it than ever.” Whereupon Madame Foa said with much sympathy that she hoped it was so, and Foa said: “You create illusions for yourself, on purpose.” Dauphin bore him down with wavy gestures and warm cries of “No! No! No!” And he appealed to Audrey as-a woman incapable of illusions. And Audrey agreed with Dauphin. And while she was agreeing she kept saying to herself: “Why do I pretend to agree with him? He is not sincere. He knows he is not sincere. We all know—except perhaps Winnie Ingate. The concert is a failure. If it were not a failure, Madame Foa would not be so sympathetic. She is more subtle even than Madame Piriac. I shall never be subtle like that. I wish I could be. I wish I was at Moze. I am too Essex for all this. And Winnie here is too comic for words.”

An aged and repellent Jew came into sight. He raised Madame Foa’s hand to his odious lips and kissed it, and Audrey wondered how Madame Foa could tolerate the formality.

“Well, Monsieur Xavier?”

Xavier shrugged his round shoulders.

“Do not say,” said he, in a hoarse voice to the company, “do not say that I have not done my best on this occasion.” He lifted his eyes heavenward, and as he did so his passing glance embraced Audrey, and she violently hated him.

“Winnie,” said she, “I think we ought to be getting back to our seats.”

“But,” cried Madame Foa, “we are going round with Dauphin to the artists’ room. You do not come with us, Madame Moncreiff?”

“In your place ...” muttered Xavier discouragingly, with a look at Dauphin, and another shrug of the shoulders. “I have been ...”

“Ah!” said Dauphin, in a strange new tone. And then very brightly to Audrey: “Now, as to Saturday, dear lady——”

Xavier engaged in private converse with Foa, and his demeanour to Foa was extremely deferential, whereas he almost ignored the Oriental critic. And Audrey puzzled her head once again to discover why the Foas should exert such influence upon the fate of music in Paris. The enigma was only one among many.

END OF THE CONCERT

The first item after the true interval was the Chaconne of Bach, which Musa had played upon a memorable occasion in Frinton. He stood upon the platform utterly alone, against a background of empty chairs, double-basses and drums. He seemed to be unfriended and forlorn. It appeared to Audrey that he was playing with despair. She wished, as she looked from Musa to the deserted places in the body of the hall, that the piece was over, and that the entire concert was over. How could anyone enjoy such an arid maze of sounds? The whole theory of classical composition and its vogue was hollow and ridiculous. People did not like the classics; they could not and they never would. Now a waltz ... after a jolly dinner and wine! ... But the Chaconne! But Bach! But culture! The audience was visibly and audibly restless. For about two hundred years the attempt to force this Chaconne upon the public had been continuous, and it was still boring them. Of course it was! The thing was unnatural.

And she herself was a fool; she was a ninny. And the alleged power of money was an immense fraud. She had thought to perform miracles by means of a banking account. For a moment she had imagined that the miracles had come to pass. But they had not come to pass. The public was too old, too tired, and too wary. It could not thus be tricked into making a reputation. The forces that made reputations were far less amenable than she had fancied. The world was too clever and too experienced for her ingenuous self. Geniuses were not lying about and waiting to be picked up. Musa was not a genius. She had been a simpleton, and the sacred Quarter had been a simpleton. She was rather angry with Musa for not being a genius. And the confidence which he had displayed a few hours earlier was just grotesque conceit! And men and women who were supposed to be friendly human hearts were not so in truth. They were merely indifferent and callous spectators. The Foas, for example, were chattering in their box, apparently oblivious of the tragedy that was enacting under their eyes. But then, it was perhaps not a tragedy; it was perhaps a farce.

And what would these self-absorbed spectators of existence say and do, if and when it was known that she was no longer a young woman of enormous wealth? Would Dauphin have sought to compel her to enter his studio had he been aware that her fortune had gone tip in smoke? She was not in a real world. She was in a world of shams. And she was a sham in the world of shams. She wanted to be back again in the honest realities of Moze, where in the churchyard she could see the tombs of her great-great-grandfathers. Only one extraneous interest drew her thoughts away from Moze. That interest was Mr. Gilman. Mr. Gilman was her conquest and her slave. She adored him because he was so wistful and so reliable and so adoring. Mr. Gilman sat intent and straight upright in Madame Piriac’s box and behaved just as though Bach himself was present. He understood nothing of Bach, but he could be trusted to behave with benevolence.

The music suddenly ceased. The Chaconne was finished. The gallery of enthusiasts still applauded with vociferation, with mystic faith, with sublime obstinacy. It was carrying on a sort of religious war against the base apathy of the rest of the audience. It was determined to force its belief down the throats of the unintelligent mob. It had made up its mind that until it had had its way the world should stand still. No encore had yet been obtained, and the gallery was set on an encore. The clapping fainted, expired, and then broke into new life, only to expire again and recommence. A few irritated persons hissed. The gallery responded with vigour. Musa, having retired, reappeared, very white, and bowed. The applause was feverish and unconvincing. Musa vanished. But the gallery had thick soles and hard hands and stout sticks, even serviceable umbrellas. It could not be appeased by bows alone. And after about three minutes of tedious manoeuvring, Musa had at last to yield an encore that in fact nobody wanted. He played a foolish pyrotechnical affair of De Bériot, which resembled nothing so much as a joke at a funeral. After that the fate of the concert could not be disputed even by the gallery. At the finish of the evening there was, in the terrible idiom of the theatre, “not a hand.”

Whether Musa had played well or ill, Audrey had not the least idea. Nor did that point seem to matter. Naught but the attitude of the public seemed to matter. This was strange, because for a year Audrey had been learning steadily in the Quarter that the attitude of the public had no importance whatever. She suffered from the delusion that the public was staring at her and saying to her: “You, you silly little thing, are responsible for this fiasco. We condescended to come—and this is what you have offered us. Go home, and let your hair down and shorten your skirts, for you are no better than a schoolgirl, after all.” She was really self-conscious. She despised Musa, or rather she threw to him a little condescending pity. And yet at the same time she was furious against that group in the foyer for being so easily dissuaded from going to see Musa in the artists’ room.... Rats deserting a sinking ship!... People, even the nicest, would drop a failure like a match that was burning out.... Yes, and they would drop her.... No, they would not, because of Mr. Gilman. Mr. Gilman was calling-to see her to-morrow. He was the rock and the cushion. She would send Miss Ingate out for the afternoon. As the audience hurried eagerly forth she spoke sharply to Miss Ingate. She was indeed very rude to Miss Ingate. She was exasperated, and Miss Ingate happened to be handy.

In the foyer not a trace of the Foa clan nor of Madame Piriac and her husband, nor of Mr. Gilman! But Tommy and Nick were there, putting on their cloaks, and with them, but not helping them, was Mr. Ziegler. The blond Mr. Ziegler greeted Audrey as though the occasion of their previous meeting had been a triumph for him. His self-satisfaction, if ever it had been damaged, was repaired to perfection. The girls were silent; Miss Ingate was silent; but Mr. Ziegler was not silent.

“He played better than I did anticipate,” said Mr. Ziegler, lighting a cigarette, after he had nonchalantly acknowledged the presentation to him of Miss Ingate. “But of what use is this French public? None. Even had he succeeded here it would have meant nothing. Nothing. In music Paris does not exist. There are six towns in Germany where success means vorldt-reputation. Not that he would succeed in Germany. He has not studied in Germany. And outside Germany there are no schools. However, we have the intention to impose our culture upon all European nations, including France. In one year our army will be here—in Paris. I should wait for that, but probably I shall be called up. In any case, I shall be present.”

“But whatever do you mean?” cried Miss Ingate, aghast.

“What do I mean? I mean our army will be here. All know it in Germany. They know it in Paris! But what can they do? How can they stop us?... Decadent!...” He laughed easily.

“Oh, my chocolates!” exclaimed Miss Thompkins. “I’ve left them in the hall!”

“No, here they are,” said Nick, handing the box.

To Audrey it seemed to be the identical box that Mr. Gilman had been carrying. But of course it might not be. Thousands of chocolate boxes resemble each other exactly.

Carefully ignoring Mr. Ziegler, Audrey remarked to Tommy with a light-heartedness which she did not feel:

“Well, what did you think of Jane this afternoon?”

“Jane?”

“Jane Foley. Nick was taking you to see her, wasn’t she?”

“Oh, yes!” said Tommy with a bright smile. “But I didn’t go. I went for a motor drive with Mr. Gilman.”

There was a short pause. At length Tommy said:

“So he’s got the goods on you at last!”

“Who?” Audrey sharply questioned.

“Dauphin. I knew he would. Remember my words. That portrait will cost you forty thousand francs, not counting the frame.”

This was the end of the concert.

STRANGE RESULT OF A QUARREL

The next afternoon Audrey sat nervous and expectant, but highly finished, in her drawing-room at the Hôtel du Danube. Miss Ingate had gone out, pretending to be quite unaware that she had been sent out. The more detailed part of Audrey’s toilette had been accomplished subsequent to Miss Ingate’s departure, for Audrey had been at pains to inform Miss Ingate that she, Audrey, was even less interested than usual in her appearance that afternoon. They were close and mutually reliable friends; but every friendship has its reservations. Elise also was out; indeed, Miss Ingate had taken her.

Audrey had the weight of all the world on her, and so long as she was alone she permitted herself to look as though she had. She had to be wise, not only for Audrey Moze, but for others. She had to be wise for Musa, whose failure, though the newspapers all spoke (at about twenty francs a line) of his overwhelming success, was admittedly lamentable; and she hated Musa; she confessed that she had been terribly mistaken in Musa, both as an artist and as a man; still, he was on her mind. She had to be wise about her share in the new campaign of Rosamund, which, while not on her mind, was on her conscience. She had to be wise about the presumable loss of her fortune; she had telegraphed to Mr. Foulger early that morning for information, and an answer was now due. Finally she had to be wise for Mr. Gilman, whose happiness depended on a tone of her voice, on a single monosyllable breathed through those rich lips. She looked forward with interest to being wise for Mr. Gilman. She felt capable of that. The other necessary wisdoms troubled her brow. She seemed to be more full of responsibility and sagacity than any human being could have been expected to be. She was, however, very calm. Her calmness was prodigious.

Then the bell rang, and she could hear one of the hotel attendants open the outer door with his key. Instantly her calmness, of which she had been so proud, was dashed to pieces and she had scarcely begun in a hurry to pick the pieces up and put them together again when the attendant entered the drawing-room. She was afraid, but she thought she was happy.

Only it was not Mr. Gilman the attendant announced. The man said:

“Mademoiselle Nickall.”

Audrey said to herself that she must get Nick very quickly away. She was in no humour to talk even to Nick, and, moreover, she did not want Nick to know that Mr. Gilman was calling upon her.

Miss Nickall was innocent and sweet. Good nature radiated from her soft, tired features, and was somehow also entangled in her fluffy grey hair. She kissed Audrey with affection.

“I’ve just come to say good-bye, you dear!” she said, sitting down and putting her check parasol across her knees. “How lovely you look!”

“Good-bye?” Audrey questioned. “Do I?”

“I have to cross for England to-night. I’ve had my orders. Rosamund came this morning. What about yours?”

“Oh!” said Audrey. “I don’t take orders. But I expect I shall join in, one of these days, when I’ve had everything explained to me properly. You see, you and I haven’t got the same tastes, Nick. You aren’t happy without a martyrdom. I am.”

Nick smiled gravely and uncertainly.

“It’s very serious this time,” said she. “Hasn’t Rosamund spoken to you yet?”

“She’s spoken to me. And I’ve spoken to her. It was deuce, I should say. Or perhaps my ’vantage. Anyhow, I’m not moving just yet.”

“Well, then,” said Nick, “if you’re staying in Paris, I hope you’ll keep an eye on Musa. He needs it. Tommy’s going away. At least I fancy she is. We both went to see him this morning.”

“Both of you!”

“Well, you see, we’ve always looked after him. He was in a terrible state about last night. That’s really one reason why I called. Not that I’d have gone without kissing you——”

She stopped. There was another ring at the bell. The attendant came in with great rapidity.

“I’m lost!” thought Audrey, disgusted and perturbed. “Her being here will spoil everything.”

But the attendant handed her a card, and the card bore the name of Musa. Audrey flushed. Almost instinctively, without thinking, she passed the card to Nick.

“My land!” exclaimed Nick. “If he sees me here he’ll think I’ve come on purpose to talk about him and pity him, and he’ll be just perfectly furious. Can I get out any other way?” She glanced interrogatively at the half-open door of the bedroom.

“But I don’t want to see him, either!” Audrey protested.

“Oh! You must! He’ll listen to sense from you, perhaps. Can I go this way?”

Impelled to act in spite of herself, Audrey took Nick into the bedroom, and as soon as Musa had been introduced into the drawing-room she embraced Nick in silence and escorted her on tiptoe through Miss Ingate’s bedroom to the vestibule and waved an adieu. Then she retraced her steps and made a grand entry into the drawing-room from her own bedroom. She meant to dispose of Musa immediately. A meeting between him and Mr. Gilman on her hearthrug might involve the most horrible complications.

The young man and the young woman shook hands. But it was the handshaking of bruisers when they enter the ring, and before the blood starts to flow.

“Won’t you please sit down?” said Audrey. He was obliged now to obey her, as she had been obliged to obey him on the previous afternoon in the Rue Cassette.

If Audrey looked as though the whole world was on her shoulders, Musa’s face seemed to contradict hers and to say that the world, far from being on anybody’s shoulders, had come to an end. All the expression of the violinist showed that in his honest conviction a great mundane calamity had occurred, the calamity of course being that his violin bow had not caused catgut to vibrate in such a way as to affect the ears of a particular set of people in a particular manner. But in addition to this sense of a calamity he was under the influence of another emotion—angry resentment. However, he sat down, holding firmly his hat, gloves, and stick.

“I saw my agent this morning,” said he, in a grating voice, in French. He was pale.

“Yes?” said Audrey. She suddenly guessed what was coming, and she felt a certain alarm, which nevertheless was not entirely disagreeable.

“Why did you pay for that concert, and the future concerts, without telling me, Madame?”

“Paid for the concerts?” she repeated, rather weakly.

“Yes, Madame. To do so was to make me ridiculous—not to the world, but to myself. For I believed all the time that I had succeeded in gaining the genuine interest of an agent who was prepared to risk money upon the proper exploitation of my talent. I worked in that belief. In spite of your attitude to me I did work. Your antipathy was bad for me; but I conquered myself, and I worked. I had confidence in myself. If last night I did not have a triumph, it was not because I did not work, but because I had been upset—and again by you, Madame. Even after the misfortune of last night I still had confidence, for I knew that the reasons of my failure were accidental and temporary. But I now know that I was living in a fool’s paradise, which you had kindly created for me. You have money. Apparently you have too much money. And with money you possess the arrogance of wealth. You knew that I had accepted assistance from good friends. And you thought in your arrogance that you might launch me without informing me of your intention. You thought it would amuse you to make a little fairy-tale in real life. It was a negligent gesture on the part of a rich and idle woman. It cost you nothing save a few bank-notes, of which you had so many that it bored you to count them. How amusing to make a reputation! How charitable to help a starving player! But you forgot one thing. You forgot my dignity and my honour. It was nothing to you that you exposed these to the danger of the most grave affront. It was nothing to you that I was received just as though I had been a child, and that for months I was made, without knowing it, to fulfil the rôle of a conceited jackanapes. When one is led to have confidence in oneself one is tempted to adopt a certain tone and to use certain phrases, which may or may not be justified. I yielded to the temptation. I was wrong, but I was also victimised. This morning, with a moment’s torture under the impertinent tongue of a rascally impresario, I paid for all the spurious confidence which I have felt and for all the proud words I have uttered. I came to-day in order to lay at your feet my thanks for the unique humiliation which I owe to you.”

His mien was undoubtedly splendid. It ought to have cowed and shamed Audrey. But it did not. She absolutely refused to acknowledge, even within her own heart, that she had committed any wrong. On the contrary, she remembered all the secret sympathy which she had lavished on Musa, all her very earnest and single-minded desires for his apotheosis at the hands of the Parisian public; and his ingratitude positively exasperated her. She was aroused. But she tried to hide the fact that she was roused, speaking in a guarded and sardonic voice.

“And did this agent of yours—I do not know his name—tell you that I was paying for the concert—I mean, the concerts?” she demanded with an air of impassivity. “He did not give your name.”

“That’s something,” Audrey put in, her body trembling. “I am much obliged to him.”

“But he clearly indicated that money had been paid—that he had not paid it himself—that the enterprise was not genuine. He permitted himself to sneer until I corrected him. He then withdrew what he had said and told me that I had misunderstood. But he was not convincing. It was too late. And I had not misunderstood. Far from that, I had understood. At once the truth traversed my mind like a flash of lightning. It was you who had paid.”

“And how did you guess that?” She laughed carelessly, though she could not keep her foot from shaking on the carpet.

“I knew because I knew!” cried Musa. “It explained all your conduct, your ways of speaking to me, your attitude of a schoolmistress, everything. How ingenuous I have been not to perceive it before!”

“Well,” said Audrey firmly. “You are wrong. It is absolutely untrue that I have ever paid a penny, or ever shall, to any agent on your behalf. Do you hear? Why should I, indeed! And now what have you to reply?”

She was aware of not the slightest remorse for this enormous and unqualified lie. Nay, she held it was not a lie, because Musa deserved to hear it. Strange logic, but her logic! And she was much uplifted and enfevered, and grandly careless of all consequences.

“You are a woman,” said Musa curtly and obstinately.

“That, at any rate, is true.”

“Therefore I cannot treat you as a man.”

“Please do,” she said, rising.

“No. If you were a man I should call you out.” And Musa rose also. “And I should be right. As you are a woman I have told you the truth, and I can do no more. I shall not characterise your denial. I have no taste for recrimination. Besides, in such a game, no man can be the equal of a woman. But I maintain what I have said, and I affirm that I know it to be true, and that there is no excuse for your conduct. And so I respectfully take leave.” He moved towards the door and then stopped. “There never had been any excuse for your conduct to me,” he added. “It has always been the conduct of a rich and capricious woman who amused herself by patronising a poor artist.”

“You may be interested to know,” she said fiercely, “that I am no longer rich. Last night I heard that my fortune is gone. If I have amused myself, that may amuse you.”

“It does amuse me,” he retorted grimly and more loudly. “I wish that you had never possessed a son. For then I might have been spared many mournful hours. All would have been different. Yes! From three days ago when I saw you walking intimately in the Tuileries Gardens with the unspeakable Gilman—right back to last year when you first, from caprice, did your best to make me love you—did it deliberately, so that all the Quarter could see!”

In a furious temper Audrey rushed past Musa to the door, and stood with her back to it, palpitating. She vaguely recalled a similar movement of hers long ago, and the slightly comic figure of Mr. Foulger flitted through her memory.

“You shall apologise for that! You shall apologise before you leave this room!” she exploded. Her chin was aloft and her mouth remained open. “I say you shall apologise for that monstrous untruth!”

He approached her, uttering not a word. She was quite ready to kill him. She had no fear of anything whatever. Not once since his arrival had she given one thought to the imminent advent of Mr. Gilman.

She said to herself, watching Musa intently:

“Yes, he shall apologise. It is shameful, what he says. It’s worse than horrid. I am as strong as he is.”

Musa dropped his hat, stick and gloves. The hat, being English and hard, bounced on the carpet. Then he put his trembling arms around her waist, and his trembling lips came nearer and nearer to hers.

She thought, very puzzled:

“What is happening? This is all wrong. I am furious with him! I will never speak to him again! What is he doing? This is all wrong. I must stop it. I’m saying nothing to him about my career, and my independence, and how horrid it is to be the wife of a genius, and all that.... I must stop it.”

But she had no volition to stop it.

She thought:

“Am I fainting?”

It was upon this scene that Mr. Gilman intruded. Mr. Gilman looked from one to the other. Perhaps the thought in his mind was that if they added their ages together they could not equal his age. Perhaps it was not. He continued to look from one to the other, and this needed some ocular effort, for they were as far apart as two persons in such a situation usually get when they are surprised. Then he caught sight of the hat, stick and gloves on the floor.

“I’ve been expecting you for a long time,” said Audrey, with that miraculous bland tranquillity of which young girls alone have the secret when the conventions are imperilled. “I was just going to order tea.”

Mr. Gilman hesitated and then replied:

“How kind of you! But please don’t order tea for me. The—er—fact is, I have been unexpectedly called away, and I only called to explain that—er—I could not call.” After all, he was a man of some experience.

She let him go. His demeanour to Musa, like Musa’s to him, was a marvel of high courtesy.

“Musa,” said Audrey, with an intimidated, defiant, proud smile, when the door had shut on Mr. Gilman, “I am still frightfully angry with you. If we stay here I shall suffocate. Let us go out for a walk. Besides, other people might call.”

Simultaneously there was another ring. It was a cable. She read:

“Sold Zacatecas at an average of six and a quarter dollars three weeks ago. Wrote you at length to Wimereux. Writing again as to new investments.

“FOULGER.”

“This comes of having no fixed address,” she said, throwing the blue cablegram carelessly down in front of Musa. “I’m not quite ruined, after all. But I might have known—with Mr. Foulger.” Then she explained.

“I wish——” he began.

“No, you don’t,” she stopped him. “So you needn’t start on that line. You are brilliant at figures. At least I long since suspected you were. How much is one hundred and eighty thousand times six and a quarter?”

Notwithstanding his brilliance, it took two pencils, two heads, and one piece of paper to solve the problem. They were not quite certain, but the answer seemed to be £225,000 in English money.

“We cannot starve,” said Audrey, and then paused.... “Musa, are we friends? We shall quarrel horribly. Do you know, I never knew that proposals of marriage were made like that!”

“I have not told you one thing,” said Musa. “I am going to play in Germany, instead of further concerts in Paris. It is arranged.”

“Not in Germany,” she pleaded, thinking of Ziegler.

“Yes, in Germany,” said Musa masterfully. “I have a reputation to make. It is the agent who has suggested it.”

“But the concerts in London?”

“You are English. I wish not to wound you.”

When Audrey stood up again, she had to look at the floor in order to make sure that it was there. Once she had tasted absinthe. She had had to take the same precaution then.

“Stop! I entreat thee!” said Musa suddenly, just as, all arrayed in her finery, she was opening the door for the walk.

“What is it?”

He kissed her, and with his lips almost on hers he murmured:

“Thou shalt not go out without avowing. And if thou art angry—well, I adore thy anger. The concerts were ... thy enterprise? I guessed well?”

“You see,” she replied like a shot, “you weren’t sure, although you pretended you were.”

In the Rue de Rivoli, and in the resplendent Champs Elysées they passed column after column of entertainment posters. But the name of Musa had been mysteriously removed from all of them.

AN EPILOGUE

Audrey was walking along Piccadilly when she overtook Miss Ingate, who had been arrested by a shop window, the window of one of the shops recently included in the vast edifice of the Hotel Majestic.

Miss Ingate gave a little squeal of surprise. The two kissed very heartily in the street, which was full of spring and of the posters of evening papers bearing melodramatic tidings of the latest nocturnal development of the terrible suffragette campaign.

“You said eleven, Audrey. It isn’t eleven yet.”

“Well, I’m behind time. I meant to be all spruced up and receive you in state at the hotel. But the boat was three hours late at Harwich. I jumped into a cab at Liverpool Street, but I got out at Piccadilly Circus because the streets looked so fine and I felt I really must walk a bit.”

“And where’s your husband?”

“He’s at Liverpool Street trying to look after the luggage. He lost some of it at Hamburg. He likes looking after luggage, so I just left him at it.”

Miss Ingate’s lower lip dropped at the corners.

“You’ve had a tiff.”

“Winnie, we haven’t.”

“Did you go to all his concerts?”

“All. I heard all his practising, and I sat in the stalls at all his concerts. Quite contrary to my principles, of course. But, Winnie, it’s very queer, I wanted to do it. So naturally I did it. We’ve never been apart—until now.”

“And it’s not exaggerated, what you’ve written me about his success?”

“Not a bit. I’ve been most careful not to exaggerate. In fact, I’ve tried to be gloomy. No use, however! It was a triumph.... And how’s all this business?” Audrey demanded, in a new key, indicating an orange-tinted newspaper bill that was being flaunted in front of her.

“Oh! I believe it’s dreadful. Of course, you know Rosamund’s in prison. But they’ll have to let her out soon. Jane Foley—she still calls herself Foley—hasn’t been caught. And that’s funny. I doubled my subscription. We had to, you see. But that’s all I’ve done. They don’t have processions and things now, and barrel organs are quite out of fashion. What with that, and my rheumatism!... I used to think I should live to vote myself. I feel I shan’t now. So I’ve gone back into water-colours. They’re very soothing, if you let the paper dry after each wash and don’t take them seriously.... Now, I’m a very common-sense woman, Audrey, as you must have noticed, and I’m not subject to fancies. Will you just look at the girl on the left hand in this window here, and tell me whether I’m dreaming or not?”

Miss Ingate indicated the shop window which had arrested her. The establishment was that of a hair specialist, and the window was mainly occupied by two girls who sat in arm-chairs with their backs to the glass, and all their magnificent hair spread out at length over the backs of the chairs for the inspection of the public; the implication being that the magnificent hair was due to the specific of the hair specialist. Passers-by continually stopped to gaze at the spectacle, but they never stopped long, because the spectacle was monotonous.

“Well, what about her?” said Audrey, staring.

“Isn’t it Lady Southminster?”

“Good heavens!” Audrey’s mind went back to the Channel packet and the rain squall and the scenes on the Paris train. “So it is! Whatever can have happened to her? Let’s go in.”

And in they went, Audrey leading, and demanding at once a bottle of the specific; Audrey had scarcely spoken when the left-hand girl in the window, who, of course, from her vantage had a full view of the shop, screamed lightly and jumped down from the window.

“Don’t give me away!” she whispered appealingly in Audrey’s ear. The next moment, not heeding the excitement of the shop manager, she had drawn Audrey and Miss Ingate through another door which led into the entrance-hall of the Majestic Hotel. The shop was thus contrived to catch two publics at once.

“If they knew I was Lady Southminster in there,” said Lady Southminster in a feverish murmur—she seemed not averse to the sensation caused by her hair in the twilight of the hotel—“I expect I should lose my place, and I don’t want to lose it. He’ll be coming by presently, and he’ll see me, and it’ll be a lesson to him. We’re always together. Race meetings, dances, golf, restaurants, bridge. Twenty-four hours every day. He won’t lose sight of me. He’s that fond of me, you know. I couldn’t stand it. I’d as lief be in prison—only I’m that fond of him, you know. But I was so homesick, and I felt if I didn’t have a change I should burst. This is Constantinopoulos’s old shop, you know, where I used to make cigarettes in the window. He’s dead, Constantinopoulos is. I don’t know what he’d have said to hair restorers. I asked for the place, and I showed ’em my hair, and I got it. And me sitting there—it’s quite like old times. Only before, you know, I used to have my face to the street. I don’t know which I like best. But, anyhow, you can see my profile from the side window. And he will. He always looks at that sort of thing. He’ll be furious. But it will do him no end of good. Well, good-bye. But come back in and buy a bottle, or I shall be let in for a shindy. In fact, you might buy two bottles.”

“So that’s love!” said Audrey when the transaction was over and they were in the entrance-hall again.

“No,” said Miss Ingate. “That’s marriage. And don’t you forget it.... Hallo, Tommy!”

“You’d better not let Mr. Gilman hear me called Tommy in this hotel,” laughed Miss Thompkins, who was attired with an unusual richness, as she advanced towards Miss Ingate and Audrey. “And what are you doing here?” she questioned Audrey.

“I’m staying here,” said Audrey. “But I’ve only just arrived. I’m advance agent for my husband. How are you? And what are you doing here? I thought you hated London.”

“I came the day before yesterday,” Tommy replied. “And I’m very fit. You see, Mr. Gilman preferred us to be married in London. And I’d no objection. So here I am. The wedding’s to-morrow. You aren’t very startled, are you? Had you heard?”

“Well,” said Audrey, “not what you’d call ‘heard.’ But I’d a sort of a kind of a—”

“You come right over here, young woman.”

“But I want to get my number.”

“You come right over here right now,” Tommy insisted. And in another corner of the entrance-hall she spoke thus, and there was both seriousness and fun in her voice: “Don’t you run away with the idea that I’m taking your leavings, young woman. Because I’m not. We all knew you’d lost your head about Musa, and it was quite right of you. But you never had a chance with Ernest, though you thought you had, after I’d met him. Admit I’m much better suited for him than you’d have been. I’d only one difficulty, and that was the nice boy Price, who wanted to drown himself for my beautiful freckled face. That’s all. Now you can go and get your number.”

The incident might not have ended there had not Madame Piriac appeared in the entrance-hall out of the interior of the hotel.

“He exacted my coming,” said Madame Piriac privately to Audrey. “You know how he is strange. He asks for a quiet wedding, but at the same time it must be all that is most correct. There are things, he says, which demand a woman.... I know four times nothing of the English etiquette. I have abandoned my husband. And here I am. Voilà! Listen. She has great skill with him, cette Tommy. Nevertheless, I have the intention to counsel her about her complexion. Impossible to keep any man with a complexion like hers!”

They saw Mr. Gilman himself enter the hotel. He was very nervous and very important. As soon as he caught sight of Miss Thompkins he said to the door-keeper:

“Tell my chauffeur to wait.”

He was punctiliously attentive to Miss Thompkins, and held her hand for two seconds after he had practically finished with it.

“Are you ready, dear?” he said. “You’ll be sorry to hear that my liver is all wrong again. I knew it was because I slept so heavily.”

These words were distinctly heard by Audrey herself.

“I think I’ll slip upstairs now,” she murmured to Madame Piriac. And vanished, before Mr. Gilman had observed her presence.

She thought:

“How he has aged!”

Scarcely ten minutes later, when Audrey was upstairs in her sitting-room, waiting idly for the luggage and her husband to arrive, and thinking upon the case of Lady Southminster, the telephone bell rang out startlingly.

“Mr. Shinner to see you.”

“Mr. Shinner? Oh! Mr. Shinner. Send him up, please.”

This Mr. Shinner was the concert agent with connections in Paris whom Audrey had first consulted in the enterprise of launching Musa upon the French public. He was a large, dark man, black moustached and bearded, with heavy limbs and features, and an opaque, pimpled skin. In spite of these characteristics, he entered the room soft-footed as a fairy, ingratiating as a dog aware of his own iniquity, reassuring as applause.

“Well, Mr. Shinner. But how did you know we were here? As a matter of fact we aren’t here. My husband has not arrived yet.”

“Madam,” said Mr. Shinner, “I happened to hear that you had telegraphed for rooms, and as I was in the neighbourhood I thought I would venture to call.”

“But who told you we had telegraphed for rooms?”

“The manager is a good friend of mine, and as you are now famous——” Ah! I have heard all about the German tour. I mean I have read about it. I subscribe to the German musical papers. One must, in my profession. Also I have had direct news from my correspondents in Germany. It was a triumph there, was it not?”

“Yes,” said Audrey. “After Dusseldorf. My husband did not make much money——”

“That will not trouble you,” Mr. Shinner smiled easily.

“But somebody did—the agents did.”

“Perhaps not so much as you think, madam, if I may say so. Perhaps not so much as you think. And we must all live—unfortunately. Has your husband made any arrangements yet for London or for a provincial tour? I have reason to think that the season will be particularly brilliant. And I can now offer advantages——”

“But, Mr. Shinner, when I last saw you, and it isn’t so very long ago, you told me that my husband was not a concert-player, which was exactly what I had heard in Paris.”

“I didn’t go quite so far as that, surely, did I?” Mr. Shinner softly insinuated. He might have been pouring honey from his mouth. “Surely I didn’t say quite that? And perhaps I had been too much influenced by Paris.”

“Yes, you said he wasn’t a concert-player and never would be——”

“Don’t rub it in, madam,” said Mr. Shinner merrily. ”Peccavi.”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing, nothing, madam,” he disclaimed.

“And you said there were far too many violinists on the market, and that it was useless for a French player to offer himself to the London musical public. And I don’t know what you didn’t say.”

“But I didn’t know then that your husband would have such a success in Germany.”

“What difference does that make?”

“Madam,” said Mr. Shinner, “it makes every difference.”

“But England and Germany hate each other. At least they despise each other. And what’s more, nearly everybody in Germany was talking about going to war this summer. I was told they are all ready to invade England after they have taken Paris and Calais. We heard it everywhere.”

“I don’t know anything about any war,” said Mr. Shinner with tranquillity. “But I do know that the London musical public depends absolutely on Germany. The only first-class instrumentalist that England has ever produced had no success here until he went to Germany and Germanised his name and himself and announced that he despised England. Then he came back, and he has caused a furore ever since. So far as regards London, a success in Karlsruhe, Wiesbaden, Leipzig, Dusseldorf, and so on, is worth far more than a success in the Queen’s Hall. Indeed—can you get a success in the Queen’s Hall without a success in these places first? I doubt it. Your husband now has London at his feet. Not Paris, though he may capture Paris after he has captured London. But London certainly. He cannot find a better agent than myself. All artists like me, because I understand. You see, my mother was harpist to the late Queen.”

“But——”

“Your husband is assuredly a genius, madam!” Mr. Shinner stood up in his enthusiasm, and banged his left fist with his right palm.

“Yes, I know that,” said Audrey. “But you are such an expensive luxury.”

Mr. Shinner pushed away the accusation with both hands. “Madam, madam, I shall take all the risks. I should not dream, now, of asking for a cheque on account. On the contrary, I should guarantee a percentage of the gross receipts. Perhaps I am unwise to take risks—I dare say I am—but I could not bear to see your husband in the hands of another agent. We professional men have our feelings.”

“Don’t cry, Mr. Shinner,” said Audrey impulsively. It was not a proper remark to make, but the sudden impetuous entrance of Musa himself, carrying his violin case, eased the situation.

“There is a man which is asking for you outside in the corridor,” said Musa to his wife. “It is the gardener, Aguilar, I think. I have brought all the luggage, not excluding that which was lost at Hamburg.” He had a glorious air, and was probably more proud of his still improving English and of his ability as a courier than of his triumphs on the fiddle. “Ah!” Mr. Shinner was bowing before him.

“This is Mr. Shinner, the agent, my love,” said Audrey. “I’ll leave you to talk to him. He sees money in you.”

In the passage the authentic Aguilar stood with Miss Ingate.

“Here’s Mr. Aguilar,” said Miss Ingate. “I’m just going into No. 37, Madame Piriac’s room. Don’t you think Mr. Aguilar looks vehy odd in London?”

“Good morning, Aguilar. You in town on business?”

Aguilar touched his forehead. It is possible that he looked very odd in London, but he was wearing a most respectable new suit of clothes, and might well have passed for a land agent.

“’Mornin’, ma’am. I had to come up because I couldn’t get delivery of those wallpapers you chose. Otherwise all the repairs and alterations are going on as well as could be expected.”

“And how is your wife, Aguilar?”

“She’s nicely, thank ye, ma’am. I pointed out to the foreman that it would be a mistake to make the dining-room door open the other way, as the architect suggested. But he would do it. However, I’ve told you, ma’am. It’ll only have to be altered back. Perhaps I ought to tell you that I took the liberty of taking a fortnight’s holiday, ma’am. It’s the only holiday I ever did take, except the annual day off for the Colchester Rose Show, which is perhaps more a matter of business with a head gardener than a holiday, as ye might say. My wife wanted me in London.”

“She’s not caught yet?”

“No’m. And I don’t think as she will be, not with me about. I never did allow myself to be bossed by police, and I always been too much for ’em. And as I’m on the matter, ma’am, I should like to give you notice as soon as it’s convenient. I wouldn’t leave on any account till that foreman’s off the place; he’s no better than a fool. But as soon afterwards as you like.”

“Certainly, Aguilar. I was quite expecting it. Where are you going to live?”

“Well, ma’am, I’ve got hold of a little poultry run business in the north of London. It’ll be handy for Holloway in case—And Jane asked me to give you this letter, ma’am. I see her this morning.”

Audrey read the note. Very short, it was signed “Jane” and “Nick,” and dated from a house in Fitzroy Street. It caused acute excitement in Audrey.

“I shall come at once,” said she.

Getting rid of Aguilar, she knocked at the door of No. 37.

“Read that,” she ordered Miss Ingate and Madame Piriac, giving them the note jointly.

“And are you going?” said Miss Ingate, nervous and impressed.

“Of course,” Audrey answered. “Don’t they ask me to go at once? I meant to write to my cousins at Woodbridge and my uncles in the colonies, and tell them all that I was settling down at last. And I meant to look at those new flats in Park Lane with Musa. But I shall have to leave all that for the present. Also my lunch.”

“But, darling,” put in Madame Piriac, who had been standing before the dressing-table trying on a hat. “But, darling, it is very serious, this matter. What about your husband?”

“He’ll keep,” said Audrey. “He’s had his turn. I must have mine now. I haven’t had a day off from being a wife for ever so long. And it’s a little enervating, you know. It spoils you for the fresh air.”

“I imagined to myself that you two were happy in an ideal fashion,” murmured Madame Piriac.

“So we are!” said Audrey. “Though a certain coolness did arise over the luggage this morning. But I don’t want to be ideally happy all the time. And I won’t be. I want—I want all the sensations there are; and I want to be everything. And I can be. Musa understands.”

“If he does,” said Miss Ingate, “he’ll be the first husband that ever did.” Her lips were sardonic.

“Well, of course,” said Audrey nonchalantly, “he is. Didn’t you know that?... And didn’t you tell me not to forget Lady Southminster?”

“Did I?” said Miss Ingate.

Audrey heard voices in the corridor. Musa was parting from a subservient Shinner. Also the luggage was bumping along the carpet. She called her husband into No. 37 and kissed him rather violently in front of Madame Piriac and Miss Ingate, and showed him the note. Then she whispered to him, smiling.

“What’s that you’re whispering?” Miss Ingate archly demanded.

“Nothing. I was only asking him to come and help me to open my big trunk. I want something out of it. Au revoir, you two.”

“What do you think of it all, Madame Piriac?” Miss Ingate inquired when the pair were alone.

“‘All the sensations there are!’ ‘Everything!’” Madame Piriac repeated Audrey’s phrases. “One is forced to conclude that she has an appetite for life.”

“Yes,” said Miss Ingate, “she wants the lion’s share of it, that’s what she wants. No mistake. But of course she’s young.”

“I was never young like that.”

“Neither was I! Neither was I!” Miss Ingate asseverated. “But something vehy, vehy strange has come over the world, if you ask me.”