Bertram Atkey

“ Winnie shook hands.
“I am ashamed to bother you so, Mr. Jay,” she said. “But you do understand, don’t you? I have so few friends. Sometimes I think I seem almost fated to be always lonely—all alone in this great city—fighting for myself. Do you remember those terrible Ripons? How good you were to me over that matter! I shall never forget it. Were you lucky enough to find out if the Ultra-Superba Film Company is a firm that a little novice could venture to accept work from, please, Mr. Jay?” ”

“ And I have to help poor Beryl Allen—do think Archer might have allowed her to call herself Beryl Archer. He is not a bit chivalrous. It makes me ashamed of men for their own sake. I will go to bed when I have had my chocolate and think and think and think until I think of some way of defending both of us,” she concluded indignantly.
Then she rose, smiled affectionately at the charming little vision in the mirror over the mantel and touched the bell to indicate to her housekeeper that she was ready for her going-to-chocolate. ”

“ Beryl Allen had been right when she said he was as bad in his way as Archer, reflected Winnie. She temporized.
“You must let me think this over, please,” she cooed. “It is a—a great honor. You are so kind. It moves me very much. I can’t think what you can see in me—just a little girl like me. Please let me think about it all for a few days, Mr. Boldre. I don’t feel that I could cope—you are so rich, aren’t you? I should have to learn about money and how to manage people. ”

“ Boldre, thus tactfully apprised that Winnie had influential friends even if she did accept movie contracts from comparative strangers, hastily, even anxiously, assured them that he and his car were wholly at Winnie's disposal, and Gerald shook hands.
“Take care of him, Miss Winnie,” he said playfully, but with serious eyes. “Business is business, and dear old Boldre is a fine business man. Charge him about half he’s got—if you can’t get more. You ought to squeeze thousands out of him with luck.” ”

“ He began to speak enthusiastically of the Anne Boleyn film. He ran his eyes calculatingly over Winnie and said that he could see that this was going to be the biggest thing in historical films he had yet touched. He had feared that it would be impossible to find a young lady with just that degree of ingenuous charm which in his view had rendered Anne irresistible to Henry VIII. But he no longer feared. He was satisfied. His mind was at rest. Mr. Benson Boldre had told him yesterday afternoon that in Miss O’Wynn he had discovered the ideal actress for the part, and he agreed. ”

“ The Honorable Gerald then cantered.
“I shall have to work very hard to make it a success, I expect,” said Winnie.
But Mr. Boldre hastened to reassure her.
“No, dear Miss O’Wynn, I don’t think so. Just be your own sweet, natural self all the time. It will come more easily to you than to a trained actress.”
Winnie smiled into his dull but avid eyes.
“Does it sound very greedy if I ask how much you would pay me, please?” she cooed. “It seems so—so mercenary to bring money into such a beautiful story, and I would much rather not. Only one has to, in a way, hasn’t one?” ”

“ My dear Miss Winnie, the Ultra-Superba Film Company is stone dead, and Archer is liable to bolt any day. Their studio at Willesden Green is next door to derelict, the bailiffs are practically in at Archer's flat and the only staff he keeps now is the lady, Miss Allen, who spends most of her time at Archer’s flat as housekeeper and occasionally lends him a hand at his office as his secretary. The firm is no good, and I beg you to ignore them and any offers they may make. ”

“ Whether it was curiosity, a desire for tea or chocolate or just sheer yielding to the sweet, warm friendliness that Winnie radiated Miss Allen never really quite knew. She may not have cared whether Mr. Archer would be annoyed or not, or she may have known that the girl had made such a hit with Mr. Boldre, of the finances, that what Winnie said was extremely likely to go with Archer. However that may have been, she yielded and went. Women who work for their living in a big city are prone to snatch at any proffer of what they recognize as and genuine friendship. ”

“ Like most quiet men, the Honorable Gerald was prone to do the right thing at the right time. He perceived that there seemed to be no urgent reason for his continued presence there. He was well aware that Winnie had a living to earn like himself—he, too, being poor if blue-blooded, and horses being hardy feeders in these days of expensive oats—and he desired to put no difficulties in the way of her earning it. He rose.
“Well, I'll be canterin’, Miss Winnie. I know you will like to talk business. You will drive Miss O’Wynn to Lady Fasterton’s place after, eh, Boldre? ”

“ Probably the brunet lady would prefer what Winnie proposed to get for her; so she nodded. Already she had perceived that Mr. Adalbert Archer was a very ordinary sort of blackguard. A rough, harsh, limited, bullying type of person with no real talent or gifts or training or power of application behind him; and he smelled of cloves and eau de Cologne, and his underlip was very and moist. She saw that probably he often popped out of the office, returning with a renewed flavor of cloves, and she understood why the Ultra-Superba Film Company was in need of a backer. ”

“ Do you mean, please, that you would pay me—like the famous stars—to play Anne Boleyn for you?
“Why, certainly, I should be very glad indeed! I should regard it as a stroke of luck for me,” began Mr. Boldre.
“Pay you a toppin’ salary, Miss Winnie—a movie star gets a bewilderin’ figure nowadays,” said the Honorable Gerald. “Make more out of actin’ a tragedy than she’d make if she picked up the Eclipse Stakes.”
“Well, hardly that, hardly that,” said Mr. Boldre blandly. “But certainly she would do extremely well. One would pay a handsome—even a very handsome—figure to Miss O’Wynn, all being well. ”

“ Archer intends to spend not one penny of the money on any films, but quietly to disappear with it as soon as he gets it, leaving the business and Mr. Boldre and Beryl and me, his star”—her eyes danced—“to do the best we can. I am sure that is so from his reluctance this morning to part with the five hundred pounds Mr. Boldre meant for me.
“That is the position. Both these men wish to take some wolfish advantage of me, and I must fight hard to defend myself. But how? What can a lonely little girl like me do against such merciless, cruel men? ”

“ Boldre, in South Africa, had tired of his wife, Beryl, and was cruel to her. He made a trip to England without her, and while he was gone she met, fell in love and ran away with Archer. After all sorts of ventures—mostly failures—Archer drifted to London and made a failure of his last venture, the Ultra-Superba Film Company, which isn’t really a company at all.
“He has been trying to find somebody to put money into the company and has always failed until he found out that Mr. Boldre, who has become very wealthy in South Africa, has now a good social position in London. ”

“ Jay!” marveled Winnie.
“I’m a quick man, you know, Miss Winnie—quick and sure—ha-ha!” Then he became more serious. “I’m puzzled about them,” he went on. “You see, they’re no good. They haven’t any money. And Archer, their manager, may not be a crook. That’s how people put it to me when I asked them about him. They all began like that—‘Archer? Well, Jay, of course he may not be a crook.’ So I pushed my inquiries rather far. In fact, as luck would have it, I got in touch with the man who ran all the office side of their business until Archer discharged him recently. ”

“ Nothing—a fool—take no notice. Only—thank you again, my dear. You are as sweet as you are lovely. Now let’s forget it. I know who you are, I think. Miss O’Wynn, isn’t it? Mr. Archer didn’t expect you till eleven. He’s just popped out. I am his secretary, Miss Allen. Won’t you sit down, Miss O’Wynn?”
She had a charming voice, with a faint, unfamiliar accent that puzzled Winnie for a moment. She made a mental effort—and caught what she wanted. Mr. Boldre had a similar faint accent—odd. Filed for consideration. She smiled at Miss Allen—a slow, delicious, friendly smile that was irresistible. ”

“ The check was meant for the Ultra-Superba Film Company.”
Boldre’s face grew serious and suspicious. Was this child an adventuress after all? Lady Fasterton was frankly amazed. Winnie went to the door, looked out, smiled and beckoned, and there entered unto the assembled company gentle Mr. George H. Jay, looking as much like a very old-established, excessively respectable family lawyer as he could.
“This gentleman is Mr. Jay, who is so kind that he looks after my business affairs for me. You see”—she smiled witchingly upon them all—“he understands so well about things, and I don’t.” ”

“ It is just a way of softening me towards him with the same money as he is using to quiet Archer. How ingenious! It is just like a wolf! And he might even make a great profit at the end of it all!”
She laughed gayly as thus satisfactorily she laid bare the gentle Mr. Boldre’s idea of a really good investment for a few-odd thousand. Then she grew serious again. ”

“ But Winnie was going to dine with Boldre that evening, and it was already late afternoon. She decided to allow the mechanic who was taking the car to Lady Fasterton’s to drop her at her flat. She thanked Boldre while they were running the coupé out. He would have preferred to be thanked in the privacy of his own limousine, but that would have meant denying the jewel her first ride then in the new case. So, as well-trained men do, he put up with it.
But Winnie merely stopped at her flat to pick up her check book and to telephone Miss Beryl Allen at Archer’s flat, asking a question. ”

“ Lunch with the Honorable Gerald was not an event which quickened Winnie’s pulse, for, oddly enough, he was not one of the type which Winnie classified as canis lupus. He was a cool, quiet youth, lean, clean-shaven, looking older and harder than he really was, and the only beauty which he regarded as being worth serious attention was equine beauty. The Honorable Gerald would cheerfully have turned away from contemplation of the celebrated ankles of that world-famous dancer, Mlle. ”

“ It would not be fair to you to spoil your sacrifice.” She took the ring, sighing. “I have been very silly, very impulsive. I shall not forgive myself. I ought to have waited—and given my ring away later. ”

“ Archer. I couldn't have put it so—so neatly and concisely for anything. I always feel so nervous and awkward about money.”
Mr. Archer pulled himself together and took a little walk round the room. He became quiet and more dangerous. Twice he went to the telephone; twice he altered his mind and let it alone. Finally he took out his note case, extracted therefrom a check and handed it to her. It was a bearer check for five hundred pounds signed by Benson Boldre. Winnie folded it away. It was tolerably evident to her that it had been given to Archer for just this purpose. ”

“ Within ten minutes of Beryl Allen’s departure Winnie, in a new pink silk thinking kimono, was curled up on the big couch before the fire, fathoms deep in thought.
The secretary-housekeeper’s story had emptied practically all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle on her mental table. All she had do was to fit them together. She mused:
“I knew I was right about Mr. Archer—he really is sus porcus. And he is a criminal too. I can’t imagine any woman running away with him, as Beryl Boldre did, even though, ten years ago, he may have been ever so much handsomer and nicer. But Beryl says that Mr. ”