第76章 Again the Replacers(2)

Charley would not refuse to lend her his aid in this estimable benevolence;nor would it occur to Charley's sensibilities how such benevolence would be taken by John if John were not "taken"himself.Yes,Charley was plainly fooled,and fooled the more readily because he had the old version of the truth.How should he suspect there was a revised version?How should he discover that passion had now changed sides,that it was now John who allowed himself to be loved?The signs of this did not occur before his eyes.Of course,Charley would not stay fooled forever;the hours of that were numbered,--but their number was quite beyond my guessing!

How much would Charley stand?He would stand a good deal,because the measure of his toleration was the measure of his desire for Hortense;and it was plain that he wanted her very much indeed.But how much would John stand?How soon would his "fire-eating"traditions produce a "difficulty"?

Why had they not done this already?Well,the garden had in some way helped me to frame a fairly reasonable answer for this also.Poor Hortense had become as powerless to woo John to warmth as poor Venus had been with Adonis;and passion,in changing sides,had advanced the boy's knowledge.He knew now the difference between the embraces of his lady when she had merely wanted his phosphates,and these other caresses now that,she wanted him.In his ceaseless search for some possible loophole of escape,his eye could not have overlooked the chance that lay in Charley,and he was far too canny to blast his forlorn hope.He had probably wondered what had changed the nature of Hortense's caresses,and the adventure of the torn money could scarce have failed to suggest itself to the mind of a youth who,little as he had trodden the ways of the world,evidently possessed some lively instincts regarding the nature of women.To batter Charley as he had battered Juno's nephew,might result in winding the arms of Hortense around his own neck more tightly than ever.

Why Hortense should keep Charley "on"any longer,was what I could least fathom,but I trusted her to have excellent reasons for anything that she did."It's sure to be quite simple,once you know it,"I told myself;and the near future proved me to be right.

Thus I laid most of my enigmas to rest;there was but one which now and then awakened still.Were Hortense a raw girl of eighteen,I could easily grant that the "fire-eater"in John would be sure to move her.But Hortense had travelled many miles away from the green forests of romance;her present fields were carpeted,not with grass and flowers,but with Oriental mats and rugs,and it was electric lights,not the moon and stars,that shone upon her highly seasoned nights.No,torn money and all,it was not appropriate in a woman of her experience;and so I still found myself inquiring in the words of Beverly Rodgers,"But what can she want him for?"The next time that I met Mrs.Gregory St.Michael it was on my way to join the party at the old church,which Mrs.Weguelin was going to show them.The card-case was in her hand,and the sight of it prompted me to allude to Hortense Rieppe.

"I find her beauty growing upon me?"I declared.

Mrs.Gregory did not deny the beauty,although she spoke with reserve at first."It is to be said that she knows how to write a suitable note,"the lady also admitted.

She didn't tell me what the note was about,naturally;but I could imagine with what joy in the exercise of her art Hortense had constructed that communication which must have accompanied the prompt return of the card-case.

Then Mrs.Gregory's tongue became downright."Since you're able to see so much of her,why don't you tell her to marry that little steam-yacht gambler?I'm sure he's dying to,and he's just the thing for her?""Ah,"I returned,"Love so seldom knows what's just the thing for marriage.""Then your precocity theory falls,"declared Mrs.St.Michael.And as she went away from me along the street,I watched her beautiful stately walk;for who could help watching a sight so good?

Charley,then,was no secret to John's people.Was John still a secret to Charley?Could Hortense possibly have managed this?I hoped for a chance to observe the two men with her during the visit of Mrs.Weguelin St.

Michael and her party to the church.

This party was already assembled when I arrived upon the spot appointed.

In the street,a few paces from the church,stood Bohm and Charley and Kitty and Gazza,with Beverly Rodgers,who,as I came near,left them and joined me.

"Oh,she's somewhere off with her fire-eater,"responded Beverly to my immediate inquiry for Hortense."Do you think she was asked,old man?"Probably not,I thought."But she goes so well with the rest,"Isuggested.

Beverly gave his chuckle."She goes where she likes.She'll meet us here when we're finished,I'm pretty sure.""Why such certainty?"

"Well,she has to attend to Charley,you know!"Mrs.Weguelin,it appeared,had met the party here by the church,but had now gone somewhere in the immediate neighborhood to find out why the gate was not opened to admit us,and to hasten the unpunctual custodian of the keys.I had not looked for precisely such a party as Mrs.Weguelin's invitation had gathered,nor could I imagine that she had fully understood herself what she was gathering;and this I intimated to Beverly Rodgers,saying:--"Do you suppose,my friend,that she suspected the feather of the birds you flock with?"Beverly took it lightly."Hang it,old boy,of course everybody can't be as nice as I am!"But he took it less lightly before it was over.