Dornford Yates

“ He loves Belinda very much. Belinda’s dark and a beauty. Great brown eyes and an exquisite mouth: straight as an arrow, and the figure that everyone wants. You know. The more you take off, the better it looks. In her bathing-dress. . . . And she’s really a sweet girl. Since I turned fifty I’ve learned to expect nothing from twenty-five. But this child is not like that. Belinda treats me as if I were her very rich aunt. But she treats Ivan Pomeroy as if he were a hideous wedding-present which she can’t throw out for fear of offending the donor—a certain sign of love, as you will agree. ”

“ Jeremy nodded.
“Ever after,” he whispered.
SIMON SIMON “Oh, Simon dear,” said Patricia, “why aren’t you rich?”
“If it comes to that,” said Simon ruefully, “why are you poor? You’ve less excuse than I have. At least, your mother was an American.”
“Yes, but she married for love—and got cut off for it. Which is why her poor little girl must marry money.”
Simon Beaulieu regarded the firmament. This was arrayed in black and silver. There was no moon: only the countless stars at all lightened the darkness, their dim, peculiar radiance turning the countryside into a kingdom of dreams. ”

“ Oh, Simon, my king, have mercy. For once in your life be weak. Go back on your word—for once. I’ve spoiled our flower by writing. Well, spoil it, too. We’ll plant another, my blessed, that we shan’t have to pick. . . . Just breathe the word, and I’ll break my engagement off. And we can marry, my darling, and live or starve or die in each other’s arms. I don’t care how I live or whether I live at all, if I can be with you . . . you. . . .
Well, there you are. If ever a girl was at a man’s mercy, Simon, I’m at yours. ”

“ Rosemary started violently, and the car swerved.
Then she began to laugh.
“By way of curing them? Or consoling ourselves?”
“Both,” said Derry. “If the sight of us getting off doesn’t open their eyes, then will nothing this side of a lawyer’s clerk. Secondly, I don’t know about you, but I’m ripe—ready to drop for consolation of a tangible sort. And what more natural than that I should turn to my loving little friend—Rosemary Chase? She’s sweet, she’s beautiful: I’ve loved her for fifty years: she’s got the prettiest hands and a face like a fairy-tale: her hair—what have you got on your hair? ”

“ The sky was cloudless, and the sun, a beneficent giant, beamed upon a fabulous world. The ocean stretched, a flood of dark-blue quicksilver, brilliant and tremulous. The yellow coast and gay green countryside made up a ragged counterpane vivid and vast enough to shoulder Mandeville. The breath of a slumbering breeze tempered the savoury air.
Ivan, who had lain at Bordeaux the night before, came floating into Biarritz with a thankful heart.
As his car swept up the drive of Les Iles d’Or, his servant, unshaven and travel-stained, rose from a pile of luggage beside a bed of hydrangeas. ”

“ My dear Joan,
This is rather a difficult letter to write, but I have come to the conclusion that it would be a fatal mistake for us to be married. We’re friends, I know, but there must be something more than friendship if marriage is to be a success. Where there is no true understanding there can never be real happiness. I am sure that after a little you will see the force of my words and realize with me that I am taking the wisest, although by no means the easiest, course in asking you to release me from my engagement. ”

“ Virginia interlaced ten rosy fingers.
“I don’t quite know what I want,” she said, as though thinking aloud. “Yes, I do. I want Derry back—terribly. Yet I want him to be smacked—not hard, just enough to sting. But I couldn’t enjoy his smacking unless I was smacked too. Can you ever begin to understand? You see, we ought to be involved—if justice is to be done.”
“That’s right,” said Roger. “You’ve assaulted the nail. My tail ought to be twisted, but not by Rosemary. Rosemary ought to be gingered but not by me. What we all want is a public executioner.” ”

“ Titus had wooed a lady that loved him heart and soul and had married one that had come to love only herself. This was his own fault. Blanche Dudoy Guest was a darling, and he had spoiled her to death.
Their engagement had been childishly happy—a glorious summer of content. Then they were married less than a year ago, and instantly winter had set in.
Titus did what he could and, though he was no fool, made a pack of mistakes. This was easy. Blanche out of humour was the devil and all. The winter, which had never been kindly, began to grow harsh.
With it all, the man never lost heart. ”

“ As Christopher John had foretold, so it fell out.
Audrey was Queen of Sundial within the week.
At the moment when she rounded Mow Corner and saw her heritage—at that moment she lost her heart.
Thatch, brick-nogging and lattice; the greys knee-deep in a pool, raising dripping muzzles to stare at the car; hollyhocks gay in a garden against a black and white wall; the cheerful ring of an anvil and the rush of a sluice; lichened stocks on a greensward and a grey lych-gate beyond; the great yews in the churchyard and an apple-cheeked swain in a smock ”

“ Titus Cheviot stared.
“This is reaction,” he said. “You stay where you are, sweetheart, and I’ll get you a drink.”
“No, it isn’t,” said Blanche. “I’m sane as sane. I’ve not been happy, you know—splashing about. That’s really why I splurged. I felt if I went all out perhaps I’d get there. I haven’t, of course. You never do. That way there’s nowhere to get. Then again—without an anchor I’m frightfully weak. I’m not a waster by nature, but put me among the wasters and I’ll waste away. I must have an anchor, Ti—an object in life. ”

“ Cheviot had had a most gorgeous time.
Never had idleness seemed so full of spice.
Her fortnight in Paris had grown into three fat weeks of merry-making. Parties, dances and plays had all contributed to the delicious orgy, but by far the handsomest contribution had been made by fashion parades. Indeed, with Madge Willoughby to pace her upon the track of models, Blanche had broken all her records of extravagance. When she rolled out of the gay capital in her luxurious car bound for Boulogne she had expended upon clothes alone very nearly six thousand pounds. ”

“ It was, indeed, a superb withdrawing-room, for, while an occasional snarl told of a car flying on the broad highway, no one essayed the by-road which led to the yellow broom.
“The art of life,” said Toby, “is to be fancy-free.”
Cicely Voile clapped her sweet-smelling hands.
“We’re going to get on—you and I,” she cried excitedly. “I can see that.”
“Why?”—suspiciously.
“Because our outlook’s the same. Think of the friendships that have been wrecked by love.” ”

“ Rosemary laughed.
“It’s perfectly obvious,” she said, “that you’ve known me too long. Familiarity has bred a wholesome contempt.”
“One moment,” said Derry calmly. “All I’ve just said about me can be said about you—except that, even if you explained the position to your prey, he wouldn’t retort with vitriol. In fact, you’re so very charming that he’d probably jump at the chance. But that’s beside the point—which is that we each need a playmate by whom we can play the game. Well, our respective spice have fairly slung us into each other’s arms. . . . If you don’t want to play, say the word. ”

“ Cheviot.
“One hundred guineas,” roared Mr. Blatchbourne, slamming the arm of his chair with a hand like a maul. “And another two hundred for another couple of rooms which I’m afraid to enter.” Blanche made ready to die. “Once this was a gentleman’s apartment: now it is ‘A Cheviot Room.’ There’s the cipher, madam, they had the effrontery to affix. That set the seal of their approval upon this—this barbarous pleasantry.” He rose to his feet and flung clenched fists to heaven. “Oh, if I’d only been here when the blackguard came down for his cheque.” ”

“ But George was no fool. You may take it from me, Sirs, she did her neighbour no wrong. Whether a woman should sell herself is another matter. From the age of twelve Patricia had been schooled—cleverly schooled to take that unpleasant fence. Her aunt, Lady Coblow of Breathless, had not only shown her that she must marry money, but had taken care to surround her with the paraphernalia of wealth. From the age of twelve Patricia had lived and lain soft. Footmen, tiled bathrooms, French cooking, sables, limousines helped to create the atmosphere in which she moved. ”

“ The two were married one brilliant June morning, full of the airs and graces of a belated spring. Broke received twelve presents, Miss Carew six hundred and four: such is the power of money. The former had already resigned his ghost of a job and was earning much less than a living by plying his pen. From this Eve sought to dissuade him, but the man was resolute. Marriage had brought him a livery more gorgeous than any he could win, but he would stand upon his own shoe-leather.
Jeremy Broke was thirty and of a cheerful countenance. His grey eyes were set well apart, and his forehead was broad. ”

“ As she gave him her lips, headlights leapt out of the darkness and four tires tore at the road.
Peruke wrenched the wheel round, and they missed a head-on collision by an inch and a half.
There was nothing to be said or done.
The coupé alone was to blame, Rosemary having allowed her to stray to the right of the road.
As the cars drew apart—
“They must have seen us,” said Rosemary. “Let’s pray it was no one we knew.”
“At least,” said Derry Peruke, “they can’t have been angry. To see all is to forgive all. And next time, sweetheart, I think I should put her in first.” ”

“ When I ventured to compare them with Hill Street I was reviled as a slow belly.”
“How dare you?” said Julia. “I never——”
“That,” said Hubert, “was what you inferred. To-night—thanks entirely to your tireless enterprise, which I readily confess I did my best to embarrass—we totter slap into H.M.’s Dolls’ House—life-size. . . . Well, we both go wild about Harry. We rise up and call one another blessed. For an hour we stagger deliriously about our future home, repeatedly disclosing to each other its perfectly manifest excellence and fatuously declaring our relish by word and deed. ”

“ After all, if we may believe Sir Toby Belch, Feste, the Clown, had ‘a contagious breath.’
What is love? ’tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure. . . .
She had no money: yet might, I think, have married anyone. But rank and riches to Jean meant nothing at all. She married Oliver Pauncefote because she liked the man, found him a gentleman, firmly believed that he would not let her down.
Herein she was right.
Pauncefote had been through the War and was out to forget. With eighty thousand pounds behind him, he began to forget very well. ”

“ Once in a while another car sang by or a waggon lumbered, but for the most part man and his works had yielded possession to Fantasy, who had done all things well. The stage of London Town was set for a masque. Substance was gone, and Shadow was up in his seat: the streets had become dim, monstrous lanes that led to Mystery, paved with the sheen of silver, hung with a sable arras behind which Echo hid: gardens were swollen to parks, and parks to kingdoms: Harlequin was abroad.
“How can I call him off?” said Rosemary suddenly. “Virginia’s got my whistle.” ”

“ Chase tugged his moustache.
“Virginia,” he said, “I can’t let you talk like that. I’m too much—ashamed. I’m not going to say I regret the—the interlude, because that wouldn’t be true. You see, I’m only human, while you’re divine. But it’s been a shady business, and I’m frankly ashamed. Which of us two has been to blame won’t bear argument. I started it—that we both know: and to-night you’ve—you’ve ended it, dear.” He took the slight fingers in his and put them to his lips. “As for Derry and Rosemary, I’ve no doubt you’re right. If they’re assembling, we’ve only ourselves to thank. ”

“ Sweet and twenty cannot rule a country estate; moreover, she must conform to the ways of her world—see and be seen, stand in the marriage-market, eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. . . . Audrey de Lisle was no fool, took things as they came, found Life a most excellent thing, hoped deep in her heart to find it still more excellent—one day.
With the scent of hay in her nostrils, treading the curling lane that led to Sundial, Audrey snuffed an earnest of that rare excellence to come. ”

“ I gave you the bricks. If I hadn’t been so vain—so hellishly vain, I’d ’ve caught your arm at the beginning and stopped the rot. You built so faithfully, Jeremy—with the cleanest, honestest heart. And I watched you and let you build and thought how wonderful it was. And all the time you were rendering our happiness to Cæsar. He’s had four months of it already, four long, matchless months out of our little treasure. Oh, Jeremy, Jeremy, you’re not going to give him any more?”
Jeremy caught her to him and held her close.
“My eloquent darling,” he said, with his cheek against hers. ”

“ Oliver opened a window and stood for a moment staring upon the silent dignity of the Place Vendôme.
“That’s not much to be glad of,” he said slowly. “What d’you suggest we should do?”
“Nothing,” said Jean. “My dear, I’m purely destructive. I can see the rot and I’ve made you confess you can see it: but I can’t stop it. . . . If you cared, perhaps I should care. If I cared, perhaps you would. But I can’t swing my propeller, and you can’t swing yours. That’s Fate’s job. The age has produced our crowd—a crowd of wasters, run by a sort of Baal that they’ve set up. ”