Читать книгу The Two Carnations - Bowen Marjorie - Страница 3

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The Assembly Rooms at Bath were full of the brilliant company gathered for the last ball of the season. Though perhaps other spas had eclipsed the complete glory once exclusively possessed, in the days of Beau Nash, by the fashionable town, it was still famous enough and gay enough to satisfy the leaders of the "mode" for at least a few weeks in the year, and to-night many of the best known people from town were among the crowd in the ball-room.

In an alcove intended for card players, but now deserted by them, a young man sat alone, leaning his elbows on a table of pale olive-wood and supporting his face in his hands while he gazed across the anteroom in which the alcove was situated, through the blue velvet curtains looped away from the entrance, and at the groups that passed, during this interval between the dances, across the shining floor of the ball-room. An expression of irritation and anxiety clouded his delicate, sensitive features, and his dark eyes were literally flaming with some suppressed excitement or passion.

It was obvious, both from the extravagant and unusual fashion of his rose-coloured suit and the darkness of his complexion, also from something lithe and impetuous in his movements and carriage, that he was not English; his grace and elegance, the refinement and hauteur of his appearance could only belong to one nation—anyone would have known at a glance that he was French.

He made no attempt to join the company, but remained motionless—yet with a look of swiftness in repose and passion barely reined in—in the alcove, gazing at the ladies and gallants who passed and re-passed behind the velvet curtains.

In all that throng his eyes were for one only—a lady in violet satin who was closely attended by two gentlemen who appeared to be watching every glance and gesture she used. One at least was openly deferential, and both were tender and delicate in their manner. Nevertheless, their complete absorption of their companion, their obvious intention that not even a look of hers should go unnoticed, was plain enough to such an intent observer as the young Frenchman, and when he had watched them pass the entrance for the fourth time he bit his lip passionately and the blood rushed impetuously to his face.

It was impossible to learn from the demeanour of the lady whether or no she enjoyed the presence of her companions; she answered their remarks, waved her fan and laughed, smiled and nodded, with a pleasant air. And not once did she look through the blue curtains to the alcove where the Frenchman sat, watching her.

She was a tall and slender lady, who nevertheless carried her heavy gleaming brocades with great dignity; she wore some beautiful pearls, and at her breast two carnations—a rare flower for so early in the year—one striped, the other pure white.

The music commenced; the Frenchman saw the object of his interest led out to the minuet by the elder of her two companions.

He leant back in his chair so that he could not see them; the blood had receded from his face, leaving it colourless and drawn.

He glanced at himself in the oval mirror hanging above the card-table, and was startled at the change in his countenance.

"This"—he said aloud, and in his own language—"has got to end, one way or another."

He took from his pocket a little ivory notebook encrusted with a coronet in diamonds, and a gold pencil; placing the book on the table he began to write rapidly, as if under the impulsion of a sudden and desperate resolution.

The violins were playing an enchanting and distracting measure; he tore the scrap of paper into pieces and cast them on the floor.

Unable to resist the impulse, he leant forward again and saw the lady in the purple and her partner close together with clasped hands, in the graceful movement of the dance.

He pulled another sheet from his notebook and began to write again, in French, and with a kind of passionate precision.

"For Mademoiselle Ursula Brent. Mademoiselle,—Will you be my wife? Will you at least give me an answer to this question that you must know I have been in vain attempting to put to you for the last month? Your brother and his friend, Mr. Wedderburn, have hitherto successfully thwarted me; when I wait on you, you have company; when I meet you at Vauxhall you never are a moment alone—at the reception and the concert it is the same. And now I must soon leave England. To leave in an uncertainty such as is torturing me now would be insupportable to me. I have dared to think that I was not wholly displeasing to you—what I can offer you must know, and I shall write to-night to your brother with a formal request for your hand. But I want to know now, at once, what your answer will be. The present situation is unendurable to me, and I cannot hope that I shall be permitted to speak to you alone. If I have not been madly presumptuous, will you give me, before I leave the hall, the white flower you wear? If there is no hope for me, hand me the other, the thing of gaudy colours. This paper cannot contain what I feel. I dare not think of either the joy or misery that awaits me. I believe you know something of my feelings, something of what I have felt since first I saw your face.—Your devoted servant, CHAMPLAIN."

The music had come to an end. The Frenchman folded his note across and tied it with a pink ribbon that he pulled from the fine stitched muslin ruffles at his wrist; then he pulled the bell-rope, and when the attendant came asked for taper and wax.

They were brought, and he carefully sealed the letter on the knot of the ribbon and impressed it with the seal ring he wore on his little finger.

While he was engaged thus, the three people in whom he took so keen an interest passed through the ante-chamber, on their way to the supper-rooms. Two of them did not notice him; but the third—the tall gentleman who had been the lady's last partner—happened to notice the elegant figure in the alcove with the long silver taper-holder in his hand, bending over a little packet on the olive-wood table.

He glanced away again instantly, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the fact that this careful sealing of a letter was an unusual action during a ball, and said nothing to his companions.

So quick had been his observation, and so instantaneous his disguise of it, that the Frenchman, glancing up swiftly at the sound of footsteps, saw the three passing along the opposite wall and never guessed that he had been noticed.

His face darkened. He blew out the taper, thrust the letter into his bosom, and when the room was again empty descended from the alcove.

Carefully and quietly he slipped away from the gay and brilliantly lit room, and out into the gardens that were pretty with coloured lamps under the moon.

The Frenchman followed the neat gravel path until it brought him to a parterte planted with formal beds of roses.

Quickly and skilfully he pulled two of the roses from their bushes and, stepping under the light of a coloured lamp, slipped the stems through the pink ribbon of the note, so that it was firmly fastened to the flowers.

There were not many roses, for it was scarcely June, but such as were in bloom he picked and placed round the two holding the note, so that it was completely hidden by the foliage.

This done, he bound them tightly together with another ribbon from his wrist, and holding the bunch, which was round as the world and the colour of deep blood, he turned again towards the Assembly Rooms.

Not, however, to the principal entrance by which he had left them, but to the back where the footmen, pages, and sedan-chairs waited.

Here it was fairly dark, and for a while he was not noticed as he moved in among the servants till he found the one he sought, a black boy in a fantastic scarlet dress and white turban.

"Timor," he said, and beckoned the negro apart. "I want you—"

The page interrupted, showing the whites of his eyes in a kind of obstinacy and terror.

"You know Timor cannot take messages," he said hurriedly. "You know Sir Harry, he forbid it—"

The Frenchman struck in impatiently. He had already proved the impossibility of bribing Miss Brent's page into disobeying the orders of her brother, Sir Harry, who had all his servants very well in hand.

"I did not ask you to take a message or a note; I ask you to take these flowers to your mistress." He held out the round red bouquet. "Give them to her under her brother's eyes, if you like; I know," he added grimly, "that you will have no chance of giving them to her secretly—and say that they were sent by one who asks her to untie them carefully—because they are rather full blown. Do you understand?"

The negro nodded but hesitated; he was mortally afraid of Sir Harry.

"I do not think I dare, my lord," he began.

"Say you do not know who gave them to you—it is dark enough here, you well might not know me. Do you know me?"

"You are the Marquis de Champlain," whispered the boy, with a grin.

"Well, you need not say that it was I." The Marquis put his hand into his pocket and brought out three gold pieces which he placed in the outstretched black hand; "and as much again when I see those roses in Miss Brent's hands."

The negro hesitated no longer, but, fearful lest he should be seen talking to the Marquis and so jeopardise this errand, snatched at the bunch of red roses and darted off into the darkness.

His cunning brain had instantly decided that his best policy would be absolute openness.

He would give his mistress the flowers before her brother and anyone else who happened to be with her; e would deliver the innocent message that was to accompany them, and rush back for the other three guineas.

He slipped through the open window into the ball-room, which was empty, and then passed into the antechamber, which was empty also, save for a tall gentleman in one of the alcoves who was engaged in picking up some fragments of paper from the floor and fitting them together on the pale olive-wood card-table.

Timor tried to dart away again, for this gentleman was Mr. Wedderburn, his master's inseparable companion and co-guardian, it seemed, of Miss Brent. But the negro was observed before he had time to escape; Mr. Wedderburn swept the fragments together into his hand and descended into the room.

"Ah, Timor," he said in a leisurely tone, "I was looking for you. Will you go to the tiring-room and fetch your lady's shawl? There is a chilly air in the supper-room."

It was the errand he had invented as an excuse to leave the supper-table; now it served a second purpose, for his watchful grey eyes had noticed the bouquet the negro was carrying.

"Who are those flowers for, Timor?" he asked pleasantly, approaching the page.

"My lady, sir," answered the negro, assuming a stupid expression. "A stranger thrust them into my hands and begged me to give them to my lady."

"Ah," said Mr. Wedderburn; "not a very elegant bouquet, nor very rare, but you shall deliver it to Miss Brent. Give it me while you go for the scarf. I will wait here for you."

The page hesitated, but he had no excuse for refusing; he was, in truth, relieved that he was not scolded for accepting a stranger's offering, for he stood in even greater awe of Mr. Wedderburn than of Sir Harry.

"I will wait for you here," repeated that gentleman, still pleasantly, but in a tone of command.

The page surrendered the roses and left.

As soon as he was alone Mr. Wedderburn returned to the alcove, hastily unbound the bouquet, disclosed the letter fastened to the stems of the two centre flowers, removed it and tied the roses tightly together again.

He had not the least doubt as to the writer of this note; the paper matched the crumpled fragments he had picked up from this very floor, the ribbon was the colour of those the Marquis de Champlain was wearing, and his coat of arms—three stars and three greyhounds—impressed the red wax which matched that in the taper-holder the Marquis had left on the card-table.

"He is not so clever after all," muttered Mr. Wedderburn, with a dark face. He put the letter carefully in the inner pocket of his red velvet coat and returned to the entrance to wait for Timor, who soon appeared carrying a white wrap edged with swansdown.

Mr. Wedderburn gave him the roses, and without a word preceded him to the supper-room where Miss Brent and her brother sat at a little round table with a couple of other ladies.

Ursula Brent greeted him with a smile.

"So you have brought my cloak? La, Mr. Wedderburn, I told you it was unnecessary. And here is Timor."

"There is a mighty draught here," said Mr. Wedderburn calmly putting the wrap round her shoulders. "And Timor has a bouquet for you from an unknown admirer."

The page presented the roses.

"A gentleman gave them to me in the dark, my lady," he said; "and bid Timor ask you be careful how you untie them, for they are full blown."

A deep colour flooded Ursula's fair face, as she laid the roses on her lap.

"Thank you, Timor," she answered lightly. "This is a strange, though flattering, tribute."

The page escaped to demand the other half of his reward, and Mr. Wedderburn took the empty seat beside Miss Brent.

"I wonder where the Marquis de Champlain is," he remarked carelessly.

"Why should you wonder?" she returned carelessly, and it seemed joyously.

"Because, madam, since the season began he has never been so long absent from your side," he answered pleasantly.

She raised her fine brows.

"Are you jealous?" she asked smiling; her fingers were playing with the pink ribbon binding the thorny stems of the roses. "I do not think you like the Marquis," she added with a challenging directness.

"I do not trust him, madam," he replied calmly.

Her blue eyes darkened, and her mouth hardened.

"You do not know him," she said.

Her brother turned from his companion.

"Are you talking of the Marquis de Champlain?" he asked. "For here he comes."

Ursula looked swiftly round and saw the Marquis entering the supper-room. As he passed her he bowed, and glanced at the roses on her lap; then he raised his eyes, and they met hers in one quick, thrilling look.