William Le Queux

“ A stream of people was passing in and out. The band was playing a jazz which she loved, and the music stirred her pulse. For the moment the thought of her distress rested less heavily on her mind. And then, all at once, the gambling fever, which had temporarily subsided, began to reassert itself. Play would be in full swing now, she reflected. She pictured the crowd grouped around the roulette. She heard the croupier’s bored voice droning “Faites vos jeux,” and “Rien n’va plus,” and the rattle of the little ball as it spun merrily round in the revolving well. ”

“ The wounded man looked up quickly, as though something in the young man’s tone had stung him, and their eyes met. It was little more than a glance which passed between them, yet the swift transference of thought from each to the other warned Preston to be on his guard against this polite, suave youth who was popularly said to be the most sought after bachelor in London; and in the same way La Planta knew on the instant that before him stood a man who might, under certain conditions, prove a formidable adversary. ”

“ And the first time you met Jessica, too, wasn’t it?”
He made an impatient movement.
“Please don’t remind me of that. Every time I think of that woman I feel positively vicious.”
“I thought that day,” Yootha continued, after a pause, “that you had eyes for nobody but Cora. You do like Cora, don’t you?”
“Of course I like her, though not, perhaps, as much as you like her. Nobody could help liking her—​nobody who counts.”
“I am glad you say that. In my opinion she is the one woman in the world. I simply worship her, and always have. She is so true, so absolutely free from insincerity. ”

“ They were now back at the hotel, and there they dined. Cora was trembling with excitement at all that had occurred. It all seemed so wonderful. That she should, quite by chance, have read in the newspaper of Doctor Johnson’s arrival; that the unsigned letter should have come about that time; that she should have thought of asking his advice; that he should have interested himself in the matter; that their friendship should have ripened so quickly into love, and have ended as it had done! ”

“ The London season was now beginning, and the traffic congestion in the streets was admitted by all to be greater than at any period before the war. Enormous cars blocked the main thoroughfares, sometimes for hours at a time, yet everywhere was talk of poverty among people of education and of culture, who a few years previously had been in good circumstances. And among the many rich people in the West End few now entertained more lavishly than Aloysius Stapleton and the man who seemed to be his shadow—​young Archie La Planta. ”

“ Indeed, Jessica’s costume, if costume it could be called, was by far the most bizarre in the whole of that vast assemblage, where weird and decadent gowns were plentiful enough.
“Who can the woman with that horrible snake costume and the extraordinary eyes be?” Yootha said as she leaned forward in Preston’s box and scanned the astonishing vision through her opera glasses. “Have you ever seen anything more abominable, Charlie?”
“A good many of the dresses here are abominable, in my opinion,” Preston answered, “and plenty of the men’s costumes might with advantage have been scrapped. ”

“ I am as certain as that I am standing here that she is an impostor of some sort, though up to the present she and her friends, Stapleton and La Planta, have been clever enough to hide the truth. Has it never struck you as strange, Yootha, that not a word got into the papers about the theft of her jewelry and things, though all one’s friends knew about it? ”

“ Yootha Hagerston was one of Cora’s oldest and dearest friends, the one friend, indeed, of whom she had for years made an intimate confidant. Yootha was not married, but that was not due to any lack of suitors, for the proposals she had had were numerous. She was a very pretty girl, about two years younger than Cora: tall, slim, extremely graceful, and with a face full of expression. She was one of those girls who attract through their personality rather than by the beauty of their features. The look in the large intelligent eyes betrayed her temperamental nature. ”

“ Does it look like love at all? Supposing a man you knew nothing about were going to marry some friend of yours, what would you think, what would you say, if all at once he treated her like this? Take my advice, Yootha,” she went on, speaking lower still, “give him up. Write to him to-morrow; come up to my room and write to him at once; saying that in view of all that has happened you have decided to break off your engagement. He won’t break his heart—​break his heart, I should think not!—and believe me, you will one day thank me for having saved you from marrying a man who doesn’t love you.” ”

“ If I were a woman I would any day sooner marry a lawyer or a stockbroker than a man who earns his livelihood by his pen. Such people at any rate give their wives a sporting chance of being able to live with them in peace, whereas we news seekers and scribblers—​—”
He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled as he mixed himself a brandy and soda. Yet even then he could not wholly dispel from his imagination the picture of Cora Hartsilver. Suddenly his telephone rang, and he unhooked the receiver. ”

“ Jessica asked with a smile. “In matters of this sort, and for that matter in most cases, a clever woman’s advice is the safest advice to follow. You have not yet asked me what I am going to wear. It is too late now to tell you. But this I can say—​my dress will surprise you.”
“I don’t want to be surprised.”
“Naturally. Nobody does. But I have a reason for wanting to surprise you at your own ‘charity’ ball,” and she laughed. “You will find out why, later. Have you any idea what Cora Hartsilver and her precious friend, Yootha Hagerston, intend to wear?” ”

“ He had hardly stopped speaking when a car drew up at the hotel entrance, and Jessica and her party alighted, accompanied by two police officials.
Preston saw at once that Yootha was almost hysterical. She kept laughing at nothing, and talking at a great pace the greatest nonsense. In addition to her bulging bag, she had slung on her arm a common sack tied at the top with string. Directly she saw her lover she rushed up to him, flung her arms about his neck, and kissed him passionately in front of everybody. ”

“ She stopped for her friend’s expression had suddenly completely changed. She was looking up at Cora now with shining eyes, while her lips, slightly parted, quivered a little as her breath came rather quickly. Then all at once, as though acting on impulse, she gripped Cora’s wrists.
“Who told you?” she asked in a quick undertone. “I thought nobody even suspected.”
“Naturally you would. Women in love always think, and often do, the wrong thing. Good heavens, Yootha, I’ve known it for months! ”

“ I understand that quite well, but the feeling is one you ought to fight against, my dear Cora. A man who deliberately commits suicide, no matter what his social status may be, and no matter what the reason or reasons may be which prompt him to commit the rash act, is guilty of a grave wrong, not to himself alone, but to the whole of the community. ”

“ That the most important secret information agency in London, an organization which had come to be looked upon as the most enterprising and trustworthy there had ever been in the Metropolis, and which half the peerage, to say nothing of the ordinary aristocracy, had at one time and another consulted in confidence, should suddenly be discovered to be nothing more than the headquarters of a nest of rogues and blackmailers, dealt Society a terrible blow. ”

“ Meanwhile Yootha Hagerston was secretly becoming more and more enamored of Captain Preston. It was the first time in her life she had ever really cared for any man; until now she had followed the fashion prevalent among many women of pretending to consider love and deep affection “all nonsense” and the hall-mark of a weak intelligence. ”

“ Often in his time he had met a girl with whom he thought he might be happy should she consent to become his wife, but he had never felt sufficiently sure of himself to propose. And now he thanked heaven for that diffidence, for he knew the only woman in the world he had ever really wanted as a wife was Yootha Hagerston. ”

“ Yootha asked. “How interesting. Tell me—​where has she been?”
“Rather you should say, ‘Where has she not been?’ She has been almost everywhere, I believe.”
“I do think she is lovely, don’t you?” Yootha persisted. “If I were a man I should be head over heels in love with her.”
“Some men are,” La Planta answered in an odd tone. “But she doesn’t care about men, I think. I mean in a general way.”
“Did you say she had been in China?” Yootha suddenly asked abruptly.
“I didn’t—​but she has been. She was in Shanghai a good while.”
“She is a widow, I am told,” Cora presently hazarded. ”

“ He seems to be always preoccupied, always thinking—​thinking. Often when I speak to him he doesn’t answer; in fact I don’t believe he hears. He used not to be like that.”
“He is engaged to be married.”
“I know, but I am positive that isn’t the reason. If it is, heaven prevent my ever becoming engaged!” and Blenkiron smiled rather grimly.
“Then to what do you attribute it?”
“I don’t attribute it. There is nothing to which I can attribute it. But I tell you this in confidence, Johnson—​if I heard that Charlie Preston had become another victim to the suicide epidemic I should not be surprised.” ”

“ No, I refuse to be your hostess; also I consider you ought to get somebody of more importance, some woman of established social standing, of high rank, if you want the ball to be a big success. There are plenty of people who do like me, of course, but at least they know nothing about me, who I am or where I come from, and though that may not count with the majority of men and women in our large circle of acquaintance, it counts a good deal with some—​they become inquisitive after a time and start making inquiries in all sorts of directions. ”

“ You know how people have cold-shouldered me since that dreadful affair at the ball. Now it has become known we are engaged, people want less than ever to meet me. Had you been here alone, your friends would probably all have come to lunch.”
“‘Friends,’ you call them?” Preston exclaimed [Pg 165] with a black look. “They are no longer friends of mine, I can assure you, if they are that sort.”
“Oh, I don’t blame them,” Yootha answered with a hard smile. “One has to pay the penalty of notoriety, even though the notoriety may have come unsought. ”

“ Doesn’t it seem strange that for all these years we should not have met, and that then we should have become acquainted by the merest chance? Supposing I had not happened to wander into Bond Street that morning, just a year ago—​it was the ninth of August, the date of the opening of our great offensive on the Western front—​and that I had not been with George, who knew La Planta, and that La Planta had not invited us to lunch with him at the Ritz we should probably be strangers still! I believe I fell in love with you that day, Yootha ”

“ Was it not Thackeray who wrote that ‘long customs, a manly appearance, faultless boots and clothes and a happy fierceness of manner’ would often help a man as much as a great balance at his bankers?”
“How true!” he went on murmuring to himself. “Here in London a man or a woman need only dress in the height of fashion in clothes they never pay for, [Pg 121] and hire a big car and pretend they own it, and be seen in good society, and the world bows down before them and craves to do them homage. Look at Stapleton and that young ass Archie La Planta, and a dozen others—​to say nothing of Jessica.” ”

“ Escorted by male companions, the mottled snake approached. They were close to Preston’s box now, and as they passed they walked more slowly and stared up through their masks apparently straight at his party. A little shudder ran through Yootha. Why, she did not know, and as it did so the horrible chameleon eyes turned from copper to deep crimson.
“I must, at any cost, find out who that is,” Hopford murmured. “I already have my suspicion; the attitude that tall man with her is standing in now is quite familiar.” ”

“ So many men grow tired of their wives. Oh, yes, I have seen it again and again among my own friends—​they marry, they love each other truly for a little while, then their love begins to cool, and then—​oh, my darling, the bare thought of that possibility makes me feel faint and ill,” and she began to sob bitterly as she lay listless in his arms. ”

“ Plenty of people own bulldogs; and for that matter it may not have been a bulldog.”
He had been singularly accurate in his conjecture that Charlie Preston was worried. Indeed he was more than worried. At the time of writing he had felt almost in despair at the extraordinary change that had suddenly come over Yootha. From the night of her great success at the tables she had become a slave to roulette. She played now with Jessica during the afternoons as well as at night, and not infrequently in the morning too. She could talk and think of nothing but roulette and petits chevaux. ”