Latest / The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library / The Shuttle Chapter 32 - A Great Ball

Transcript

The Shuttle Chapter 32 - A Great Ball · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

0:00
Speaker 1: CHAPTER XXXII. A GREAT BALL A certain great ball given
0:12
Speaker 1: yearly at Dunham Castle was one of the most notable
0:14
Speaker 1: social features of the county. It took place when the
0:17
Speaker 1: house was full of its most interestingly distinguished guests, and
0:21
Speaker 1: though other balls might be given at other times, this
0:23
Speaker 1: one was marked by a degree of great estate. On
0:26
Speaker 1: several occasions the chief guests had been great personages indeed,
0:30
Speaker 1: and to be bidden to meet them implied a selection
0:33
Speaker 1: flattering in itself. One's invitation must convey by inference that
0:37
Speaker 1: one was either brilliant, beautiful, or admirable, if not important.
0:42
Speaker 1: Nigel Amstruthers had never appeared at what the uninvited were wont,
0:46
Speaker 1: with derisive smiles, to call the great panjandrum function, which
0:50
Speaker 1: was an ironic designation not employed by such persons as
0:54
Speaker 1: received cards bidding them to the festivity. Stornham Court was
0:58
Speaker 1: not popular in the county. No one had yearned for
1:00
Speaker 1: the society of the dowager lady Anstruthers even in her youth,
1:04
Speaker 1: and a not too well-favoured young man with an ill-favoured temper,
1:08
Speaker 1: noticeably on the lookout for grievances, is not an addition
1:12
Speaker 1: to one's circle. At nineteen Nigel had discovered the older
1:16
Speaker 1: Lord Mount Dunstan and his son Tenham to be congenial acquaintances,
1:20
Speaker 1: and had been so often absent from home that his
1:23
Speaker 1: neighbours would have found social intercourse with him difficult. even
1:26
Speaker 1: if desirable. Accordingly, when the county paper recorded the splendours
1:31
Speaker 1: of the great panjandrum function, which it by no means
1:34
Speaker 1: mentioned by that name, the list of among those present
1:37
Speaker 1: had not so far contained the name of Sir Nigel Anstruthers.
1:41
Speaker 1: So on a morning a few days after his return
1:44
Speaker 1: the master of Stornham turned over a card of invitation
1:47
Speaker 1: and read it several times before speaking.' I suppose you
1:51
Speaker 1: know what this means,' he said at last to Rosalie,
1:53
Speaker 1: who was alone with him. It means that we're invited
1:57
Speaker 1: at Dunham Castle for the ball, doesn't it? Her husband
2:00
Speaker 1: tossed the card aside on the table. It means that
2:04
Speaker 1: Betty will be invited to every house where there's a
2:06
Speaker 1: son who must be disposed of profitably. She's invited because
2:10
Speaker 1: she's beautiful and clever. She would be invited if she
2:13
Speaker 1: had no money at all, said Rosie daringly. She was
2:17
Speaker 1: actually growing daring, she thought sometimes. It would not have
2:21
Speaker 1: been possible to say anything like this a few months ago.'
2:24
Speaker 1: Don' t make silly mistakes,' said Nigel.' There are a good
2:28
Speaker 1: many handsome girls who receive comparatively little attention. But the
2:32
Speaker 1: hounds of war are let loose when one of your
2:34
Speaker 1: swollen American fortunes appears. The obviousness of it virtually makes
2:38
Speaker 1: me sick. It's as vulgar as— as New York.' What befell
2:43
Speaker 1: next brought to Sir Nigel a shock of curious enlightenment,
2:46
Speaker 1: but no one was more amazed than Rosie herself. She
2:49
Speaker 1: felt when she heard her own voice as if she
2:51
Speaker 1: must be rather mad. I would rather, she said quite distinctly,
2:56
Speaker 1: that you did not speak to me of New York
2:58
Speaker 1: in that way. What? said Anne Struthers, staring at her
3:02
Speaker 1: with contempt which was derision. It is my home, she answered.
3:07
Speaker 1: It is not proper that I should hear it spoken
3:09
Speaker 1: of slightingly. Your home? It has not taken the slightest
3:13
Speaker 1: notice of you for twelve years. Your people dropped you
3:16
Speaker 1: as if you were a hot potato. They have taken
3:19
Speaker 1: me up again, still in amazement at her own boldness.
3:22
Speaker 1: but somehow learning something as she went on. He walked
3:26
Speaker 1: over to her side and stood before her.' Look here, Rosalie,'
3:30
Speaker 1: he said,' you have been taking lessons from your sister.
3:33
Speaker 1: She is a beauty and young, and you are not.
3:36
Speaker 1: People will stand things from her they will not take
3:38
Speaker 1: from you. I would stand some things myself, because it
3:41
Speaker 1: rather amuses a man to see a fine girl peacocking.
3:44
Speaker 1: It's merely ridiculous in you, and I won't stand for it,
3:47
Speaker 1: not a bit of it.' It was not specially fortunate
3:50
Speaker 1: for him that the door opened as he was speaking,
3:53
Speaker 1: and Betty came in with her own invitation in her hand.
3:56
Speaker 1: He was quick enough, however, to turn to greet her
3:58
Speaker 1: with a shrug of his shoulders.' I' m being favoured with
4:01
Speaker 1: a little scene by my wife,' he explained.' She' s capable
4:05
Speaker 1: of getting up excellent little scenes, but I dare say
4:08
Speaker 1: she doesn't show you that side of her temper.' Betty
4:11
Speaker 1: took a comfortable chintz-covered easy-chair. Her expression was evasively speculative.
4:17
Speaker 1: Was it a scene I interrupted, she said, then I
4:20
Speaker 1: must not go away and leave you to finish it.
4:22
Speaker 1: You were saying that you would not stand something. What
4:25
Speaker 1: does a man do when he will not stand a thing?
4:28
Speaker 1: It always sounds so final and appalling as if he
4:31
Speaker 1: were threatening horrible things, such as perhaps were a resource
4:34
Speaker 1: in feudal times. What is the resource in these dull
4:38
Speaker 1: days of law and order and policemen? Is this American chaff?
4:44
Speaker 1: He was disagreeably conscious that he was not wholly successful
4:47
Speaker 1: in his effort to be lofty. The frankness of Betty's
4:50
Speaker 1: smile was quite without prejudice.' Dear me, no,' she said.'
4:54
Speaker 1: It' s only the unpicturesque result of an unfeminine knowledge of
4:57
Speaker 1: the law. And I was thinking how one is limited,
5:01
Speaker 1: and yet how things are simplified, after all.'' Simplified?' disgustedly.' Yes, really.
5:08
Speaker 1: You see—' If Rosie were violent, she could not beat you,
5:11
Speaker 1: even if she were strong enough, because you could ring
5:14
Speaker 1: the bell and give her into custody. And you could
5:16
Speaker 1: not beat her, because the same unpleasant thing would happen
5:19
Speaker 1: to you. Policemen do rob things of colour, don't they?
5:24
Speaker 1: And besides, when one remembers that mere vulgar lore insists
5:27
Speaker 1: that no one can be forced to live with another
5:29
Speaker 1: person who is brutal or loathsome, that's simple, isn't it?
5:33
Speaker 1: You could go away from Rosie, with sweet clearness, at
5:36
Speaker 1: any moment you wished. as far away as you liked.
5:40
Speaker 1: You seemed to forget, still feeling that convincing loftiness was
5:44
Speaker 1: not easy, that when a man leaves his wife or
5:47
Speaker 1: she deserts him, it is she who is likely to
5:49
Speaker 1: be called upon to bear the onus of public opinion.
5:53
Speaker 1: Would she be called upon to bear it under all circumstances?
5:57
Speaker 1: Damned clever woman as you are, you know that she
6:00
Speaker 1: would as well as I know it.' He made an
6:02
Speaker 1: abrupt gesture with his hand.' You know that what I
6:05
Speaker 1: say is true.' Women who take to their heels are
6:08
Speaker 1: deucedly unpopular in England. I have not long been in England,
6:12
Speaker 1: but I have been struck by the prevalence of a
6:14
Speaker 1: sort of constitutional British sense of fair play among the
6:17
Speaker 1: people who really count. The Dunhams, for instance, have it markedly.
6:22
Speaker 1: In America it is the men who force women to
6:24
Speaker 1: take to their heels who are deucedly unpopular. The American
6:28
Speaker 1: sense of fair play is their most English quality. It
6:31
Speaker 1: was brought over in ships by the first colonists, like
6:34
Speaker 1: the pieces of fine solid old furniture one even now
6:37
Speaker 1: sees here and there in houses in Virginia. But the
6:40
Speaker 1: fact remains, said Nigel, with an unpleasant laugh, the fact remains,
6:45
Speaker 1: my dear girl. The fact that does remain, said Betty,
6:48
Speaker 1: not unpleasantly at all, and still with her gentle air
6:51
Speaker 1: of mere unprejudiced speculation, is that if a man or
6:55
Speaker 1: woman is properly ill-treated, properly, not in any amateurish way,
7:00
Speaker 1: They reach the point of not caring in the least.
7:02
Speaker 1: Nothing matters but that they must get away from the
7:04
Speaker 1: horror of the unbearable thing. Never to see or hear
7:08
Speaker 1: of it again is heaven enough to make anything else
7:10
Speaker 1: a thing to smile at. But one could settle the
7:13
Speaker 1: other point by experimenting.' Suppose you run away from Rosie,
7:17
Speaker 1: and then we can see if she is cut by
7:19
Speaker 1: the county.' His laugh was unpleasant again.' So long as
7:23
Speaker 1: you are with her she will not be cut.' There
7:26
Speaker 1: are a number of penniless young men of family in
7:28
Speaker 1: this as well as the adjoining counties. Do you think
7:31
Speaker 1: Mount Dunstan would cut her?' She looked down at the
7:34
Speaker 1: carpet thoughtfully for a moment and then lifted her eyes.'
7:37
Speaker 1: I do not think so,' she answered,' but I will
7:40
Speaker 1: ask him.' He was startled by a sudden feeling that
7:44
Speaker 1: she might be capable of it.' Oh, come now,' he said,'
7:47
Speaker 1: that goes beyond a joke. You will not do any
7:50
Speaker 1: such absurd thing. One does not want one's domestic difficulties
7:53
Speaker 1: discussed by one's neighbours.' Betty opened coolly surprised eyes.' I
7:59
Speaker 1: did not understand it was a personal matter,' she remarked.'
8:02
Speaker 1: Where did the domestic difficulties come in?' He stared at
8:06
Speaker 1: her a few seconds with the look she did not like,
8:08
Speaker 1: which was less likable at the moment because it combined
8:11
Speaker 1: itself with other things.' Hang it,' he muttered.' I wish
8:15
Speaker 1: I could keep my temper as you can keep yours.'
8:18
Speaker 1: And he turned on his heel and left the room.
8:21
Speaker 1: Rosie had not spoken. She had sat with her hands
8:24
Speaker 1: in her lap, looking out of the window. She had
8:26
Speaker 1: at first had a moment of terror. She had indeed
8:29
Speaker 1: once uttered in her soul the abject cry, Don't make
8:32
Speaker 1: him angry, Betty! Oh, don't! Don't! And suddenly it had
8:36
Speaker 1: been stilled, and she had listened. This was because she
8:39
Speaker 1: realized that Nigel himself was listening. That made her see
8:43
Speaker 1: what she had not dared to allow herself to see before.
8:46
Speaker 1: These trite things were true. There were laws to protect one.
8:50
Speaker 1: If Betty had not been dealing with mere truths, Nigel
8:52
Speaker 1: would have stopped her. He had been supercilious, but he
8:55
Speaker 1: could not contradict her.' Betty,' she said when her sister
8:59
Speaker 1: came to her,' you said that to show me things
9:02
Speaker 1: as well as to show them to him. I know
9:04
Speaker 1: you did, and listened to every word. It was good
9:08
Speaker 1: for me to hear you.'' Clear- cut, unadorned facts are like bullets,'
9:12
Speaker 1: said Betty.' They reach home if one's aim is good.
9:15
Speaker 1: The shiftiest people cannot evade them.' A certain thing became
9:20
Speaker 1: evident to Betty during the time which elapsed between the
9:23
Speaker 1: arrival of the invitations and the great ball. Despite an
9:26
Speaker 1: obvious intention to assume an amiable pose for the time being,
9:30
Speaker 1: Sir Nigel could not conceal a not quite unexplainable antipathy
9:34
Speaker 1: to one individual. This individual was Mount Dunstan, whom it
9:38
Speaker 1: did not seem easy for him to leave alone. He
9:41
Speaker 1: seemed to recur to him as a subject without any
9:43
Speaker 1: special reason, and this somewhat puzzled betty until she heard
9:47
Speaker 1: from rosalie of his intimacy with lord tenham which in
9:50
Speaker 1: a measure explained it the whole truth was that the
9:53
Speaker 1: lout as he had been called had indulged in frank
9:56
Speaker 1: speech in his rare intercourse with his brother and his
9:58
Speaker 1: friends and had once interfered with hot young fury in
10:02
Speaker 1: a matter in which the pair had specially wished to
10:04
Speaker 1: avoid all interference. His open scorn of their methods of
10:08
Speaker 1: entertaining themselves they had felt to be disgusting impudence, which
10:12
Speaker 1: would have been deservedly punished with a horsewhip if the
10:14
Speaker 1: youngster had not been a big muscle clumsy oaf with
10:17
Speaker 1: a dangerous eye. Upon this footing their acquaintance had stood
10:21
Speaker 1: in past years, and to decide, as Sir Nigel had decided,
10:25
Speaker 1: that the oaf in question had begun to make his
10:27
Speaker 1: bid for splendid fortune under the roof of Stornham Court itself,
10:30
Speaker 1: was not a thing to be regarded calmly. It was
10:34
Speaker 1: more than he could stand, and the folly of temper
10:36
Speaker 1: which was for ever his undoing betrayed him into mistakes
10:39
Speaker 1: more than once. This girl, with her beauty and her wealth,
10:43
Speaker 1: he chose to regard as a sort of property rightfully
10:45
Speaker 1: his own. She was his sister-in-law, at least she was
10:49
Speaker 1: living under his roof. He had more or less the
10:51
Speaker 1: power to encourage or discourage such aspirants as appeared. Upon
10:56
Speaker 1: the whole, there was something soothing to one's vanity in
10:58
Speaker 1: appearing before the world as the person at present responsible
11:02
Speaker 1: for her. It gave a man a certain dignity of position,
11:06
Speaker 1: and his chief girding at fate had always risen from
11:08
Speaker 1: the fact that he had not to have dignity of position.
11:12
Speaker 1: He would not be held cheap in this matter at least.
11:15
Speaker 1: but sometimes, as he looked at the girl, he turned
11:17
Speaker 1: hot and sick, as it was driven home to him
11:19
Speaker 1: that he was no longer young, that he had never
11:22
Speaker 1: been good-looking, and that he had cut the ground from
11:24
Speaker 1: under his feet twelve years ago when he had married Rosalie.
11:27
Speaker 1: If he could have waited, if he could have done
11:30
Speaker 1: several other things, perhaps the clever acting of a part
11:33
Speaker 1: and his power of domination might have given him a chance.
11:36
Speaker 1: Even that blaggard of a Mount Dunstan had a better
11:39
Speaker 1: one now. He was young, at least, and free, and
11:42
Speaker 1: a big strong beast. He was forced, with bitter reluctance,
11:46
Speaker 1: to admit that he himself was not even particularly strong.
11:49
Speaker 1: Of late he had felt it hideously. So he detested
11:53
Speaker 1: Mount Dunstan the more for increasing reasons as he thought
11:56
Speaker 1: the matter over. It would seem, perhaps, but a subtle
11:59
Speaker 1: pleasure to the normal mind, but to him there was pleasure, support, aggrandizement,
12:04
Speaker 1: in referring to the ill case of the Mount Dunstan estate,
12:07
Speaker 1: in relating illustrative anecdotes, in dwelling upon the hopelessness of
12:11
Speaker 1: the outlook and the notable unpopularity of the man himself.
12:15
Speaker 1: A confiding young lady from the States was required, he
12:18
Speaker 1: said on one occasion, but it would be necessary that
12:21
Speaker 1: she should be a young person of much simplicity, who
12:23
Speaker 1: would not be alarmed or chilled by the obvious. No
12:27
Speaker 1: one would realise this more clearly than Mount Dunstan himself.
12:31
Speaker 1: He said it coldly and casually, as if it were
12:33
Speaker 1: the simplest matter of fact. If the fellow had been
12:36
Speaker 1: making himself agreeable to Betty, it was as well that
12:39
Speaker 1: certain points should be, as it were, inadvertently brought before her.
12:44
Speaker 1: Miss Vanderpool was really rather fine, people said to each
12:47
Speaker 1: other afterwards, when she entered the ballroom at Dunham Castle
12:50
Speaker 1: with her brother-in-law. She bore herself as composedly as if
12:54
Speaker 1: she had been escorted by the most admirable and dignified
12:57
Speaker 1: of conservative relatives, instead of by a man who was
13:00
Speaker 1: more definitely disliked and disapproved of than any other man
13:03
Speaker 1: in the county whom decent people were likely to meet.
13:07
Speaker 1: yet she was far too clever a girl not to
13:09
Speaker 1: realise the situation clearly, they said to each other. She
13:13
Speaker 1: had arrived in England to find her sister a neglected wreck,
13:16
Speaker 1: her fortune squandered, and her existence stripped bare of even
13:20
Speaker 1: such things as one felt to be the mere decencies.
13:23
Speaker 1: There was but one thing to be deduced from the
13:25
Speaker 1: facts which had stared her in the face. But of
13:28
Speaker 1: her deductions she had said nothing whatever, which was, of course,
13:31
Speaker 1: remarkable in a young person. It may be mentioned that
13:35
Speaker 1: perhaps there had been those who would not have been
13:37
Speaker 1: reluctant to hear what she must have had to say,
13:40
Speaker 1: and who had even possibly given her a delicate lead,
13:43
Speaker 1: but the lead had never been taken. One lady had
13:46
Speaker 1: even remarked that, for her part, she felt that too
13:48
Speaker 1: great a reserve verged upon secretiveness, which was not a
13:52
Speaker 1: desirable girlish quality. Of course, the situation had been so
13:56
Speaker 1: much discussed that people were naturally on the lookout for
13:59
Speaker 1: the arrival of the Stornham party, as it was known
14:02
Speaker 1: that Sir Nigel had returned home and would be likely
14:05
Speaker 1: to present himself with his wife and sister-in-law. There was
14:08
Speaker 1: not a dowager present who did not know how and
14:11
Speaker 1: where he had reprehensibly spent the last months. It served
14:14
Speaker 1: him quite right that the Spanish dancing-person had coolly left
14:18
Speaker 1: him in the lurch for a younger and more attractive
14:20
Speaker 1: as well as a richer man. If it were not
14:23
Speaker 1: for Miss Vanderpool, one need not pretend that one knew
14:26
Speaker 1: nothing about the affair. In fact, if it had not
14:29
Speaker 1: been for Miss Vanderpool, he should not have received an invitation.
14:33
Speaker 1: and poor lady anstruthers would be sitting at home still
14:35
Speaker 1: the forlorn little frump and invalid she had so wonderfully
14:38
Speaker 1: ceased to be since her sister had taken her in
14:41
Speaker 1: hand she was absolutely growing even pretty and young and
14:45
Speaker 1: her clothes were really beautiful the whole thing was amazing
14:50
Speaker 1: betty as well as rosalie and nigel knew that many
14:53
Speaker 1: people turned undisguisedly to look at them even to watch
14:56
Speaker 1: them as they came into the splendid ball-room it was
15:00
Speaker 1: a splendid ball-room and a stately one and Lord Dunham
15:03
Speaker 1: and Lord Westholt shared a certain thought when they met her,
15:06
Speaker 1: which was that hers was distinctly the proud young brilliance
15:09
Speaker 1: of presence which figured most perfectly against its background. Much
15:13
Speaker 1: as people wanted to look at Sir Nigel, their eyes
15:16
Speaker 1: were drawn from him to Miss Vanderpool. After all, it
15:20
Speaker 1: was she who made him an object of interest. One
15:22
Speaker 1: wanted to know what she would do with him, how
15:25
Speaker 1: she would carry him off. How much did she know
15:27
Speaker 1: of the distaste people felt for him, since she would
15:30
Speaker 1: not talk or encourage talk? The Dunhams could not have
15:33
Speaker 1: invited her and her sister and have ignored him, but
15:36
Speaker 1: did she not guess that they would have ignored him
15:38
Speaker 1: if they could? And was there not natural embarrassment in
15:42
Speaker 1: feeling forced to appear in pomp, as it were, under
15:44
Speaker 1: his escort? But no embarrassment was perceptible. Her manner committed
15:49
Speaker 1: her to no recognition of a shadow of a flaw
15:52
Speaker 1: in the character of her companion. It even carried a
15:55
Speaker 1: certain conviction with it, and the lookers-on felt the impossibility
15:58
Speaker 1: of suggesting any such flaw by their own manner. For
16:02
Speaker 1: this evening, at least, the man must actually be treated
16:05
Speaker 1: as if he were an entirely unobjectionable person. It appeared
16:09
Speaker 1: as if this is what the girl wanted and intended
16:11
Speaker 1: should happen. This was what Nigel himself had begun to perceive,
16:15
Speaker 1: but he did not put it pleasantly. Ducidly clever girl
16:18
Speaker 1: as she was, he said to himself, she saw that
16:21
Speaker 1: it would be more agreeable to have no nonsense talked
16:23
Speaker 1: and no ruffling of tempers. He had always been able
16:26
Speaker 1: to convey to people that the ruffling of his temper
16:29
Speaker 1: was a thing to be avoided, and perhaps she had
16:31
Speaker 1: already been sharp enough to realise this was a fact
16:34
Speaker 1: to be countered with. She was sharp enough, he said
16:37
Speaker 1: to himself, to see anything. The function was a superb one.
16:42
Speaker 1: The house was superb. The rooms of entertainment were in
16:45
Speaker 1: every proportion perfect, and were quite renowned for the beauty
16:48
Speaker 1: of the space they offered. The people themselves were, through
16:51
Speaker 1: centuries of dignified living, so placed that intercourse with their
16:55
Speaker 1: kind was an easy and delightful thing. They need never
16:58
Speaker 1: doubt either their own effect or the effect of their hospitalities.
17:02
Speaker 1: Sir Nigel saw about him all the people who held
17:04
Speaker 1: enviable place in the county. Some of them he had
17:07
Speaker 1: never known, some of them had long ceased to recall
17:10
Speaker 1: his existence. There were those among them who lifted lornets
17:14
Speaker 1: or stuck monocles into their eyes as he passed, asking
17:17
Speaker 1: each other in politely subdued tones who the man was
17:20
Speaker 1: who seemed to be in attendance on Miss Vanderpool. Nigel
17:23
Speaker 1: knew this and girded at it internally. while he made
17:26
Speaker 1: the most of his suave smile. The distinguished personage who
17:30
Speaker 1: was the chief guest was to be seen at the
17:32
Speaker 1: upper end of the room talking to a tall man
17:34
Speaker 1: with broad shoulders, who was plainly interesting him for the moment.
17:39
Speaker 1: As the stornham party passed on, this person, making his bow, retired,
17:43
Speaker 1: and as he turned toward them, Sir Nigel recognising him,
17:46
Speaker 1: the agreeable smile was for the moment lost.' How in
17:50
Speaker 1: the name of Heaven did Mount Dunstan come here?' broke
17:53
Speaker 1: from him with involuntary heat. Would it be rash to conclude,
17:58
Speaker 1: said Betty, as she returned the bow of a very
18:00
Speaker 1: grand old lady in black velvet and an imposing tiara,
18:03
Speaker 1: that he came in response to invitation? The very grand
18:07
Speaker 1: old lady seemed pleased to see her, and with a
18:10
Speaker 1: royal little sign called her to her side. As Betty
18:13
Speaker 1: Vanderpool was a great success with the Mrs. Weldon's and
18:16
Speaker 1: old Dobie's of village life, she was also a success
18:19
Speaker 1: among grand old ladies.' When she stood before them there
18:23
Speaker 1: was a delicate submission in her air, which was suggestive
18:26
Speaker 1: of obedience to the dignity of their years and state.
18:29
Speaker 1: Strongly conservative and rather feudal old persons were much pleased
18:33
Speaker 1: by this. In the present irreverent iconoclasm of modern times
18:37
Speaker 1: it was most agreeable to talk to a handsome creature
18:40
Speaker 1: who was as beautifully attentive as if she had been
18:42
Speaker 1: a specially perfect young lady-in-waiting. This one even patted Betty's
18:46
Speaker 1: hand a little when she took it. She was a
18:49
Speaker 1: great county potentate who was known as Lady Allenby of Dole,
18:52
Speaker 1: her house being one of the most ancient and interesting
18:55
Speaker 1: in England.' I' m glad to see you here to-night,' she said.'
18:59
Speaker 1: You' re looking very nice, but you can't help that.' Betty
19:03
Speaker 1: asked permission to present her sister and brother-in-law. Lady Allenby
19:07
Speaker 1: was polite to both of them, but she gave Nigel
19:10
Speaker 1: a rather sharp glance through her gold pince-nez as she
19:13
Speaker 1: greeted him.' Janie and Mary,' she said to the two
19:16
Speaker 1: girls nearest her. I dare say you will kindly change
19:19
Speaker 1: your chairs and let Lady Anstruthers and Miss Vanderpool sit
19:22
Speaker 1: next to me. The ladies Jane and Mary Lithcombe, who
19:26
Speaker 1: had been ordered about by her from their infancy, obeyed
19:29
Speaker 1: with polite smiles. They were not particularly pretty girls, and
19:33
Speaker 1: were of the indigent noble. Jane, who had almost over-large
19:37
Speaker 1: blue eyes, sighed as she reseated herself a few chairs
19:40
Speaker 1: lower down.' It does seem beastly unfair,' she said in
19:44
Speaker 1: a low voice to her sister, that a girl such
19:46
Speaker 1: as that should be so awfully good-looking she ought to
19:49
Speaker 1: have a turned-up nose.'' Thank you,' said Mary.' I have
19:54
Speaker 1: a turned-up nose myself, and I've got nothing to balance it.'' Oh,
19:58
Speaker 1: I didn't mean a nice turned-up nose like yours,' said Jane.'
20:01
Speaker 1: I meant an ugly one. Of course Lady Allenby wants
20:05
Speaker 1: her for Tommy,' and her manner was not resigned. What she,
20:09
Speaker 1: or anyone else for that matter, disdainfully, could want with
20:13
Speaker 1: Tommy I don't know, replied Mary. I do, answered Jane obstinately.
20:18
Speaker 1: I played cricket with him when I was eight, and
20:21
Speaker 1: I've liked him ever since. It is awful, in a
20:23
Speaker 1: smothered outburst, what girls like us have to suffer. Lady
20:28
Speaker 1: Mary turned to look at her curiously. Jane, she said,
20:32
Speaker 1: are you suffering about Tommy? Yes, I am. oh what
20:36
Speaker 1: a question to ask in a ballroom do you want
20:38
Speaker 1: me to burst out crying no sharply look at the
20:43
Speaker 1: prince stare at that fat woman curtseying to him stare
20:47
Speaker 1: and then wink your eyes lady allenby was talking about
20:51
Speaker 1: mount dunstan Lord Denham has given us a lead. He
20:55
Speaker 1: is an old friend of mine, and he has been
20:57
Speaker 1: talking to me about it. It appears that he has
21:00
Speaker 1: been looking into things seriously. Modern as he is, he
21:03
Speaker 1: rather tilts at injustices in a quiet way. He has
21:07
Speaker 1: satisfactorily convinced himself that Lord Mount Dunstan has been suffering
21:10
Speaker 1: for the sins of his fathers, which must be annoying.
21:14
Speaker 1: Is Lord Denham quite sure of that? put in Sir Nigel,
21:17
Speaker 1: with a suggestively civil air. Old Lady Allenby gave him
21:21
Speaker 1: an unencouraging look,' Quite,' she said.' He would be likely
21:25
Speaker 1: to be before he took any steps.'' Ah,' remarked Nigel,'
21:30
Speaker 1: I knew Lord Tenham, you see.' Lady Allenby's look was
21:34
Speaker 1: more unencouraging still. She quietly and openly put up her
21:38
Speaker 1: glass and stared. There were times when she had not
21:41
Speaker 1: the remotest objection to being rude to certain people.' I
21:46
Speaker 1: am sorry to hear that,' she observed.' There never was
21:49
Speaker 1: any room for mistake about Tenham.' He is not usually mentioned.'
21:54
Speaker 1: I do not think this man would be usually mentioned
21:56
Speaker 1: if everything were known, said Nigel. Then an appalling thing happened.
22:01
Speaker 1: Lady Allenby gazed at him a few seconds and made
22:04
Speaker 1: no reply whatever. She dropped her glass and turned again
22:08
Speaker 1: to talk to Betty. It was as if she had
22:10
Speaker 1: turned her back on him, and Sir Nigel, still wearing
22:13
Speaker 1: an amiable exterior, used internally some bad language. But I
22:18
Speaker 1: was a fool to speak of Tenham, he thought, a
22:20
Speaker 1: great fool. A little later Miss Vanderpool made her curtsy
22:24
Speaker 1: to the exalted guest, and was commented upon again by
22:27
Speaker 1: those who looked on. It was not at all unnatural
22:30
Speaker 1: that one should find one's eyes following a girl who,
22:33
Speaker 1: representing a sort of royal power, should have the good
22:35
Speaker 1: fortune of possessing such looks and bearing. Remembering his child,
22:40
Speaker 1: Bet Noir, of the long legs and square, audacious little face,
22:43
Speaker 1: Nigel Anstruthers found himself restraining a slight grin as he
22:47
Speaker 1: looked on at her dancing. Partners flocked about her like bees,
22:51
Speaker 1: and Lady Allenby of Dole and other very grand old
22:53
Speaker 1: or middle-aged ladies all found the evening more interesting because
22:57
Speaker 1: they could watch her.' She is full of spirit,' said
23:00
Speaker 1: Lady Allenby,' and she enjoys herself as a girl should.
23:04
Speaker 1: It's a pleasure to look at her. I like a
23:06
Speaker 1: girl who gets a magnificent colour and stars in her
23:09
Speaker 1: eyes when she dances. It looks healthy and young.' It
23:13
Speaker 1: was Tommy Miss Vanderpool was dancing with when her ladyship
23:16
Speaker 1: said this. Tommy was her grandson and a young man
23:19
Speaker 1: of greater rank than fortune. He was a nice, frank,
23:22
Speaker 1: heavy youth, who loved a simple county life spent in
23:25
Speaker 1: tramping about with guns, and in friendly hobnobbing with the neighbours,
23:29
Speaker 1: and eating great afternoon teas with people whose jokes were
23:32
Speaker 1: easy to understand, and who were ready to laugh if
23:34
Speaker 1: you tried a joke yourself. He liked girls, and especially
23:38
Speaker 1: he liked Jane Lithcombe, but that was a weakness his
23:41
Speaker 1: grandmother did not at all encourage, and as he danced
23:44
Speaker 1: with Betty Vanderpool he looked over her shoulder more than
23:47
Speaker 1: once at a pair of big unhappy blue eyes whose
23:50
Speaker 1: owner sat against the wall. Betty Vanderpool herself was not
23:53
Speaker 1: thinking of Tommy. In fact, during this brilliant evening she
23:57
Speaker 1: faced still further developments of her own strange case. Certain
24:01
Speaker 1: new things were happening to her. When she had entered
24:03
Speaker 1: the ballroom she had known at once who the man
24:05
Speaker 1: was who stood before the royal guest, she had known
24:08
Speaker 1: before he bowed low and withdrew, and her recognition had
24:12
Speaker 1: brought with it a shock of joy. For a few
24:14
Speaker 1: moments her throat felt hot and pulsing. It was true,
24:18
Speaker 1: the things which concerned him concerned her. All that happened
24:22
Speaker 1: to him suddenly became her affair, as if in some
24:25
Speaker 1: way they were of the same blood. Nigel's slighting of
24:28
Speaker 1: him had infuriated her, That Lord Dunham had offered him
24:31
Speaker 1: friendship and hospitality was a thing which seemed done to herself,
24:35
Speaker 1: and filled her with gratitude and affection. That he should
24:39
Speaker 1: be at this place on this special occasion swept away
24:42
Speaker 1: dark things from his path. It was as if it
24:44
Speaker 1: were stated without words that a conservative man of the world,
24:48
Speaker 1: who knew things as they were, having means of reaching truths,
24:51
Speaker 1: vouched for him, and placed his dignity and firmness at
24:54
Speaker 1: his side. And there was the gladness at the sight
24:58
Speaker 1: of him. It was an overpoweringly strong thing, she had
25:01
Speaker 1: never known anything like it. She had not seen him
25:03
Speaker 1: since Nigel's return, and here he was, and she knew
25:07
Speaker 1: that her life quickened in her because they were together
25:09
Speaker 1: in the same room. He had come to them and
25:11
Speaker 1: said a few courteous words, but he had soon gone away.
25:15
Speaker 1: At first she wondered if it was because of Nigel,
25:17
Speaker 1: who at the time was making himself rather ostentatiously amiable
25:21
Speaker 1: to her. Afterwards she saw him dancing, talking, being presented
25:25
Speaker 1: to people— being, with a tactful easiness, taken care of
25:28
Speaker 1: by his host and hostess and Lord Westholt. She was
25:32
Speaker 1: struck by the graceful magic with which this tactful ease
25:35
Speaker 1: surrounded him without any obviousness. The Dunhams had given a lead,
25:39
Speaker 1: as Lady Allenby had said, and the rest were following
25:42
Speaker 1: it and ignoring intervals with reposeful readiness. It was wonderfully
25:46
Speaker 1: well done. Apparently there had been no past at all.
25:50
Speaker 1: All began with this large young man, who, despite his
25:53
Speaker 1: Viking type, really looked particularly well in evening dress. Lady
25:57
Speaker 1: Allenby held him by her chair for some time, openly
26:00
Speaker 1: enjoying her talk with him, and calling up Tommy so
26:02
Speaker 1: that they might make friends. After a while Betty said
26:06
Speaker 1: to herself he would come and ask for a dance,
26:09
Speaker 1: but he did not come, and she danced with one
26:11
Speaker 1: man after another. Westholt came to her several times, and
26:14
Speaker 1: had more dancers than one. Why did the other not come?
26:19
Speaker 1: Several times they whirled past each other, and when it
26:21
Speaker 1: occurred they looked, both feeling it an accident, into each
26:25
Speaker 1: other's eyes. the strong and strange thing, that which moves
26:29
Speaker 1: on its way as do birth and death and the
26:31
Speaker 1: rising and the setting of the sun, had begun to
26:34
Speaker 1: move in them. It was no new and rare thing,
26:37
Speaker 1: but an ancient and common one, as common and ancient
26:40
Speaker 1: as death and birth themselves and part of the law
26:42
Speaker 1: as they are. As it comes to royal persons, to
26:46
Speaker 1: whom one makes obeisance at their mere passing by, as
26:49
Speaker 1: it comes to scullery maids in royal kitchens and grooms
26:52
Speaker 1: in royal stables, as it comes to ladies in waiting
26:55
Speaker 1: and the women who serve them, so it had come
26:58
Speaker 1: to these two who had been drawn near to each
27:00
Speaker 1: other from the opposite sides of the earth, and each
27:02
Speaker 1: started at the touch of it, and withdrew apace in
27:05
Speaker 1: bewilderment and some fear. I wish, Mount Dunstan was feeling
27:09
Speaker 1: throughout the evening, that her eyes had some fault in
27:12
Speaker 1: their expression, that they drew one less, that they drew
27:15
Speaker 1: me less. I am losing my head. It would be better,
27:19
Speaker 1: Betty thought, if I did not wish so much that
27:21
Speaker 1: he would come and ask me to dance with him,
27:23
Speaker 1: that he would not keep away so. He is keeping
27:26
Speaker 1: away for a reason. Why is he doing it?' The
27:30
Speaker 1: music swung on in lovely measures, and the dancers swung
27:33
Speaker 1: with it. Sir Nigel walked dutifully through the lancers once
27:36
Speaker 1: with his wife, and once with his beautiful sister-in-law. Lady Amstruthers,
27:40
Speaker 1: in her new bloom, had not lacked partners, who discovered
27:44
Speaker 1: that she was a childishly light creature who danced extremely well.
27:48
Speaker 1: Everyone was kind to her, and the very grand old
27:50
Speaker 1: ladies who admired Betty were absolutely benign in their manner.'
27:55
Speaker 1: Betty's partners paid ingenious court to her, and Sir Nigel
27:58
Speaker 1: found he had not been mistaken in his estimate of
28:01
Speaker 1: the dignity his position of escort and male relation gave
28:04
Speaker 1: to him. Rosie, standing for a moment looking out on
28:08
Speaker 1: the brilliancy and state about her, meeting Betty's eyes, laughed quiveringly.'
28:12
Speaker 1: I' m in a dream,' she said.' You have awakened from
28:16
Speaker 1: a dream,' Betty answered. From the opposite side of the
28:20
Speaker 1: room someone was coming towards them, and seeing him, Rosie
28:23
Speaker 1: smiled in welcome.' I am sure Lord Mount Dunstan is
28:27
Speaker 1: coming to ask you to dance with him,' she said.'
28:29
Speaker 1: Why have you not danced with him before, Betty?'' He
28:32
Speaker 1: has not asked me,' Betty answered.' That is the only reason.''
28:36
Speaker 1: Lord Dunham and Lord Westholt called at the Mount a
28:39
Speaker 1: few days after they met him at Stornham,' Rosalie explained
28:43
Speaker 1: in an undertone.' They wanted to know him. Then it
28:46
Speaker 1: seems they found they liked each other. Lady Dunham has
28:49
Speaker 1: been telling me about it. She says Lord Dunham thanks
28:52
Speaker 1: you because you said something illuminating.' that was the word
28:55
Speaker 1: she used, illuminating. I believe you're always illuminating, Betty. Mount
29:00
Speaker 1: Dunstan was certainly coming to them. How broad his shoulders
29:04
Speaker 1: looked in his close-fitting black coat, how well-built his whole
29:07
Speaker 1: strong body was, and how steadily he held his eyes.
29:11
Speaker 1: Here and there one sees a man or woman who is,
29:13
Speaker 1: through some trick of fate, by nature a compelling thing
29:16
Speaker 1: unconsciously demanding that one should submit to some domineering attraction.
29:21
Speaker 1: One does not call it domineering, but it is so.
29:24
Speaker 1: this special creature is charged unfairly with more than his
29:27
Speaker 1: or her single share of force betty vanderpoel thought this
29:31
Speaker 1: out as this other one came to her he did
29:33
Speaker 1: not use the ballroom formula when he spoke to her
29:36
Speaker 1: he said in rather a low voice will you dance
29:39
Speaker 1: with me?'' Yes,' she answered. Lord Dunham and his wife
29:44
Speaker 1: agreed afterwards that so noticeable a pair had never before
29:47
Speaker 1: danced together in their ballroom. Certainly no pair had ever
29:50
Speaker 1: been watched with quite the same interested curiosity. Some onlookers
29:54
Speaker 1: thought it singular that they should dance together at all.'
29:57
Speaker 1: Some pleased themselves by reflecting on the fact that no
30:00
Speaker 1: other two could have represented with such picturesqueness the opposite
30:04
Speaker 1: poles of fate and circumstance. No one attempted to deny
30:08
Speaker 1: that they were an extraordinarily striking-looking couple, and that one's
30:11
Speaker 1: eyes followed them in spite of oneself. Taken together, they
30:15
Speaker 1: produce an effect that is somehow rather amazing, Old Lady
30:18
Speaker 1: Allenby commented.' He is a magnificently built man, you know,
30:22
Speaker 1: and she is a magnificently built gal. Everybody should look
30:26
Speaker 1: like that.' my impression would be that adam and eve
30:29
Speaker 1: did but for the fact that neither of them had
30:31
Speaker 1: any particular character that affair of the apple was so
30:35
Speaker 1: silly eve has always struck me as being the kind
30:38
Speaker 1: of woman who if she lived to-day would run up
30:40
Speaker 1: stupid bills at her dressmakers and be afraid to tell
30:43
Speaker 1: her husband that wonderful black head of miss vanderpoel's looks
30:47
Speaker 1: very nice poised near mount dunstan's dark red one i
30:51
Speaker 1: am glad to be dancing with him betty was thinking
30:54
Speaker 1: i am glad to be near him' Will you dance
30:57
Speaker 1: this with me to the very end?' asked Mount Dunstan,'
31:00
Speaker 1: to the very last note.'' Yes,' answered Betty. He had
31:05
Speaker 1: spoken in a low but level voice, the kind of
31:08
Speaker 1: voice whose tone places a man and woman alone together,
31:11
Speaker 1: and wholly apart from all others by whomsoever they are surrounded.
31:15
Speaker 1: There had been no preliminary speech, and no explanation of
31:18
Speaker 1: the request followed. The music was a perfect thing, the
31:22
Speaker 1: brilliant lofty ballroom, the beauty of colour and sound about them,
31:25
Speaker 1: the jewels and fair faces, the warm breath of flowers
31:28
Speaker 1: in the air, the very sense of royal presence in
31:31
Speaker 1: its accompanying state and ceremony, seemed merely a naturally arranged
31:35
Speaker 1: background for the strange consciousness each held close and silently,
31:39
Speaker 1: knowing nothing of the mind of the other. This was
31:42
Speaker 1: what was passing through the man's mind. This is the
31:46
Speaker 1: thing which most men experience several times during their lives.
31:49
Speaker 1: It would be reason enough for all the great deeds
31:52
Speaker 1: and all the crimes one hears of. It is an
31:54
Speaker 1: enormous kind of anguish and a fearful kind of joy.
31:58
Speaker 1: It is scarcely to be borne, and yet at this
32:00
Speaker 1: moment I could kill myself and her at the thought
32:03
Speaker 1: of losing it. If I had begun earlier, would it
32:06
Speaker 1: have been easier? No, it would not. With me it
32:09
Speaker 1: is bound to go hard. At twenty I should probably
32:12
Speaker 1: not have been able to keep myself from shouting it aloud,
32:15
Speaker 1: and I should not have known that it was only
32:17
Speaker 1: the working of the law. Only, good God, what a
32:20
Speaker 1: fool I am! It is because it is only the
32:22
Speaker 1: law that I cannot escape and must go on to
32:25
Speaker 1: the end, grinding my teeth together because I cannot speak. Oh,
32:29
Speaker 1: her smooth young cheek! Oh, the deep shadows of her lashes!
32:34
Speaker 1: And while we sway round and round together, I hold
32:37
Speaker 1: her slim, strong body in the hollow of my arm.
32:40
Speaker 1: It was quite possibly, as he thought this, that Nigel Anstruthers,
32:44
Speaker 1: following him with his eyes as he passed, began to frown.
32:47
Speaker 1: He had been watching the pair as others had, he
32:50
Speaker 1: had seen what others saw, and now he had an
32:53
Speaker 1: idea that he saw something more, and it was something
32:55
Speaker 1: which did not please him. The instinct of the male
32:59
Speaker 1: bestirred itself, the curious instinct of resentment against another man,
33:03
Speaker 1: any other man, and in this case Mount Dunstan was
33:06
Speaker 1: not any other man but one for whom his antipathy
33:08
Speaker 1: was personal. I won't have that, he said to himself,
33:12
Speaker 1: I won't have it. The music rose and swirled, and
33:16
Speaker 1: then sank into soft breathing as they moved in harmony together,
33:20
Speaker 1: gliding and swirling as they threaded their way among other
33:22
Speaker 1: couples who swirled and glided also, some of them light
33:26
Speaker 1: and smiling, some exchanging low-toned speech, perhaps saying words which,
33:30
Speaker 1: unheard by others, touched on deep things. The exalted guest
33:35
Speaker 1: fell into momentary silence as he looked on, being a
33:38
Speaker 1: man much attracted by physical fineness and temperamental power and charm.
33:42
Speaker 1: a girl like that would bring a great deal to
33:45
Speaker 1: a man and to the country he belonged to a
33:47
Speaker 1: great race might be founded on such superbness of physique
33:50
Speaker 1: and health and beauty combined with abnormal resources certainly no
33:55
Speaker 1: more could be asked he expressed something of the kind
33:58
Speaker 1: to lord dunholm who stood near him in attendance to
34:01
Speaker 1: herself betty was saying that was a strange thing he
34:05
Speaker 1: asked me it is curious that we say so little
34:09
Speaker 1: I should never know much about him. I have no
34:11
Speaker 1: intelligence where he is concerned, only a strong, stupid feeling
34:15
Speaker 1: which is not like a feeling of my own. I
34:18
Speaker 1: am no longer Betty Vanderpool, and I wish to go
34:21
Speaker 1: on dancing with him, on and on to the last
34:23
Speaker 1: note as he said. She felt a little hot wave
34:26
Speaker 1: run over her cheek uncomfortably, and the next instant the
34:29
Speaker 1: big arm tightened its clasp of her for just one second,
34:32
Speaker 1: no more than one. She did not know that he
34:35
Speaker 1: himself had seen the sudden ripple of red colour and
34:38
Speaker 1: the equally sudden contraction of the arm had been as
34:40
Speaker 1: unexpected to him and as involuntary as the quick wave itself.
34:45
Speaker 1: It had horrified and made him angry. He looked the
34:48
Speaker 1: next instant entirely stiff and cold. He did not know
34:52
Speaker 1: it happened, Betty resolved.' The music is going to stop,'
34:56
Speaker 1: said Mount Dunstan.' I know the waltz. We can get
34:59
Speaker 1: once around the room again before the final chord. It
35:02
Speaker 1: was to be the last note, the very last.' but
35:05
Speaker 1: he said it quite rigidly, and Betty laughed.' Quite the last,'
35:09
Speaker 1: she answered. The music hastened a little, and their gliding
35:13
Speaker 1: whirl became more rapid, a little faster, a little faster still,
35:17
Speaker 1: a running sweep of notes, a big, terminating harmony, and
35:21
Speaker 1: the thing was over.' Thank you,' said Mount Dunstan.' One
35:25
Speaker 1: will have it to remember.' And his tone was slightly sardonic.' Yes,'
35:30
Speaker 1: Betty acquiesced politely.' Oh, not you, only I. I have
35:34
Speaker 1: never waltzed before.' Betty turned to look at him curiously.'
35:38
Speaker 1: Under circumstances such as these,' he explained,' I learned to
35:42
Speaker 1: dance at a particularly hideous boys' school in France. I
35:46
Speaker 1: abhorred it, and the trend of my life has made
35:48
Speaker 1: it quite easy for me to keep my twelve-year-old vow
35:51
Speaker 1: that I would never dance after I left the place
35:53
Speaker 1: unless I wanted to do it, and that especially nothing
35:56
Speaker 1: should make me waltz until certain agreeable conditions were fulfilled.'
36:01
Speaker 1: waltzing I approved of out of hideous schools. I was
36:04
Speaker 1: a pig-headed, objectionable child. I detested myself even then. Betty's
36:09
Speaker 1: composure returned to her.' I am trusting,' she remarked,' that
36:13
Speaker 1: I may secretly regard myself as one of the agreeable
36:16
Speaker 1: conditions to be fulfilled. Do not dispel my hopes roughly.''
36:20
Speaker 1: I will not,' he answered.' You are, in fact, several
36:24
Speaker 1: of them.'' One breathes with much greater freedom,' she responded.'
36:30
Speaker 1: This sort of cool nonsense was safe. It dispelled feelings
36:34
Speaker 1: of tenseness and carried them to the place where Sir
36:36
Speaker 1: Nigel and Lady Anstruthers awaited them. A slight stir was
36:40
Speaker 1: beginning to be felt throughout the ballroom. The royal guest
36:43
Speaker 1: was retiring, and soon the rest began to melt away.
36:46
Speaker 1: The Anstruthers, who had a long return drive before them,
36:49
Speaker 1: were among those who went first. When Lady Anstruthers and
36:53
Speaker 1: her sister returned from the cloakroom, they found Sir Nigel
36:56
Speaker 1: standing near Mount Dunstan, who was going also, and talking
37:00
Speaker 1: to him in an amiably detached manner. Mount Dunstan himself
37:04
Speaker 1: did not look amiable, or seem to be saying much,
37:07
Speaker 1: but Sir Nigel showed no signs of being disturbed.' Now
37:11
Speaker 1: that you have ceased to forswear the world,' he said
37:13
Speaker 1: as his wife approached,' I hope we shall see you
37:15
Speaker 1: at Stornham. Your visits must not cease, because we cannot
37:19
Speaker 1: offer you G. Selden any longer.' He had his own
37:22
Speaker 1: reasons for giving the invitation, several of them. and there
37:26
Speaker 1: was a satisfaction in letting the fellow know, casually, that
37:29
Speaker 1: he was not in the ridiculous position of being unaware
37:32
Speaker 1: what had occurred during his absence, that there had been visits,
37:35
Speaker 1: and also the objectionable episode of the American Bounder. That
37:39
Speaker 1: the episode had been objectionable he knew he had adroitly
37:42
Speaker 1: conveyed by mere tone and manner. Mount Dunstan thanked him
37:46
Speaker 1: in the usual formula, and then spoke to Betty. G.
37:50
Speaker 1: Selden left us tremulous and fevered with ecstatic anticipation. He
37:54
Speaker 1: carried your kind letter to Mr. Vanderpool next to his heart.
37:58
Speaker 1: His brain seemed to whirl at the thought of what
38:00
Speaker 1: the boys would say when he arrived with it in
38:02
Speaker 1: New York. You have materialized the dream of his life.
38:06
Speaker 1: I have interested my father, Betty answered with a brilliant smile.
38:10
Speaker 1: He liked the romance of the Rubin S. Vanderpool who
38:13
Speaker 1: rewarded the savor of his life by unbounded orders for
38:16
Speaker 1: the Delcoff. As their carriage drove away, Sir Nigel bent
38:20
Speaker 1: forward to look out of the window. and having done it,
38:23
Speaker 1: laughed a little.' Mount Dunstan does not play the game well,'
38:27
Speaker 1: he remarked. It was annoying that neither Betty nor his
38:31
Speaker 1: wife inquired what the game in question might be, and
38:34
Speaker 1: that his temperament forced him into explaining without encouragement. He
38:39
Speaker 1: should have stood motionless with folded arms, or something of
38:42
Speaker 1: the sort, and watched her equipage until it was out
38:45
Speaker 1: of sight.'' And he did not?' said Betty. He turned
38:50
Speaker 1: on his heel as soon as the door was shut.'
38:53
Speaker 1: People ought not to do such things, was her simple comment,
38:57
Speaker 1: to which it seemed useless to reply. End of chapter
39:01
Speaker 1: 32