Maxine

“ Maxine laughed; then, swift as a breeze or a racing cloud, her mood changed.
"Monsieur, you care for Max?"
"What a question! I love Max. He's a star in my darkness—or was, until the sun shone."
He paused, fearful of where his impulses had led him; but Maxine was all sweetness, all seriousness.
"Am I, then, the sun, monsieur?"
In any other woman the words must have seemed a lure; but here was a fairness, a frankness and dignity that lifted the question to another and higher plane. Blake, comprehending, answered simply with the truth. ”

“ You are a great actress, but you could not control the dew which sprang out on your forehead, or the beating of your heart when I touched the sofa, so I knew: I had been watching you for that. There has been an error, and I can only apologise.”
“I don’t blame you, but those who sent you,” said Maxine, letting me lead her to a chair, into which she sank, limply. “I am thankful you do not tell me these diamonds are contraband in some way. I was not sure but it would end in that.”
“Not at all, Mademoiselle. I wish you joy of them. It is you who will adorn the jewels, not they you. ”

“ Neither Max nor Maxine had any place in her conceptions. She saw Lize, broken but justified, because she had given when life asked of her; she saw the little Jacqueline, with the halo of candle-light turning her blonde hair to gold; in a distant dream she saw the frail, steadfast Madame Salas, and in a near, poignant vision she saw Blake, and her soul melted within her.
She conceived the world as one immense censer into which men and women poured their all, and from which a wondrous white smoke, a scent incredibly lovely, rose continually, enveloping the universe. ”

“ Maxine, in her little white bedroom, arraying herself for Blake, was wrapped in a cloud of illusion, translated to a sphere above the common earth by this magic blindness. Never again while life lasted was she to stand as she stood to-night, eyes searching her mirror with perfect steadfast sincerity, lips parted in breathless joy of confidence. Never again! But for the moment the illusion was complete. She saw the triumphing soul of Max glimmer through her own fair body, saw the boy's faith carried like a banner in her woman's hands. ”

“ It spoke a thousand things, and with its vibrations trembling upon her lips, Maxine came round the chair and Blake, looking up, saw Max—Max of old, Max of the careless clothes, the clipped waving locks.
It is in moments grotesque or supreme that men show themselves. ”

“ Blake, waiting at the foot of the Cours la Reine, consumed with anticipation, drank in the freshness of the morning as though it were a draught of wine; Maxine, crossing the Place de la Concorde, lifted her face to the sky, striving to quiet her pulses, to cool her hot cheeks in the wash of gentle air.
Her hour had arrived; none could hinder its approach, as none could mar its beauty. She scarcely recognized the earth upon which she trod; the fierce excitement, the melting tenderness of her moods warred until emotion ran riot and the sifting of her feelings became a task impossible. ”

“ Again Max laughed. "Yes! That is what you all say of the woman who is not beneath your own heel! You wonder why I disapprove of love. That is the reason of my disapproval—the story of my sister Maxine! Maxine who was as fine and free as a young animal, until love snared her and its instrument crushed her."
"But the man—the husband?" said Blake again. ”

“ The adventurer awoke in him alive and alert.
"She intrigues you, then—Maxine?"
"Marvellously—as the Sphinx intrigues me! To begin with, why the name? You Max! She Maxine!"
For an instant Max scanned the dark plantation with knitted brows; then he looked over his shoulder with a peculiar smile.
"We are twins, mon cher!" he said, taking secret joy in the elaboration of his lie. "My mother was a Frenchwoman, by name Maxine, and when she died at our birth, my father in his grief bestowed the name upon us both—the boy and the girl—Max and Maxine!" Very carefully he lighted his cigarette. ”

“ I knew in the end only that, according to all the critics, Maxine de Renzie had “surpassed herself,” had been “astonishingly great,” had done “what no woman could do unless she threw her whole soul into her part.” How little they knew where Maxine de Renzie’s soul had been last night! And—only God knew where it might be this night. Out of her body, perhaps—the one way of escape from Raoul’s hatred, if he had come to know the truth.
Of course the enquiry at the hotel was not for Ivor Dundas, but for the name he had adopted there ”

“ Is not the instinct of love to give all?"
The little Jacqueline spoke her truth with a frail confidence very touching to behold. She was a child of the people, her sole weapons against the world were a certain blonde beauty, a certain engaging youthfulness; but she looked Maxine steadfastly in the eyes, meeting the anger, the scorn, the fear compassed in her glance.
"I know the world, madame; it is not a pretty place. When I was sixteen years old, I left my parents because it called to me—and in the distance its voice was pleasant. I left my home; I had lovers." ”

“ I took the hint, and going quickly into the room adjoining, turned on the light. Emptiness there: but I left the door open, and the electricity switched on. They might change their minds, or be more subtle than they wished to seem.
Maxine threw herself on the sofa, gathering up the necklace from the cushion where it had fallen, and lifting it in both hands pressed the glittering mass against her lips and cheeks.
“Thank God, thank God—and thank you, Ivor, best of friends!” she said brokenly, in so low a voice that no ear could have caught her words, even if pressed against the keyhole. ”

“ The question might have been astonishing, but her visitor did not betray surprise by even the quiver of an eyelash.
"Love, madame," she said.
And Maxine did not flash round upon her in one of her swift rages, did not even draw her brows together into their frowning line. She merely gazed into the mirror, as if weighing the statement judicially.
"All people do not hold that opinion," she said, at last.
Jacqueline shrugged her shoulders in the exercise of an infinite patience. "No, madame?"
"No. M. Blake talked to-night of 'the highest thing,' and he did not mean love." ”

“ When it was over, the fiancé begged the privilege of escorting her to her home, and they drove together through the cold Russian night. They spoke little; Maxine's thoughts skimmed lightly over the future, her hands lay lightly in her fiancé's. All was unemotional—all was smooth and undisturbed—until they reached the street where her house stood; then, with the swiftness that belongs to mad moments, the being beside her showed himself. Quick as a flash of lightning, the dignified, distinguished, unexacting lover was effaced, and in his place was a man—an animal—a passionate egoist! ”

“ Once or twice England has had to thank me for giving her news of the most vital importance. You’re shocked to hear what my inner life has been?”
“If I were shocked, no doubt the feeling would be more than half conventional. One hardly knows how conventional one’s opinions are until one stops to think,” said I.
“Once, I gloried in the work,” Maxine went on. “But that was before I fell in love. You and I have played a little at being in love, but that was to pass the time. Both of us were flirting. I’d never met Raoul then, and I’ve never really loved any man except him. ”

“ Women have spoiled him a lot. But—but he does love me, Lisa.”
“And he did love Maxine!” I laughed.
“He didn’t. He never loved her. I—you see, you put such horrid thoughts into my head that—that I just mentioned her name when he said to-night—oh, when he said the usual things, about never having cared seriously for anyone until he saw me. Only—it seems treacherous to call them ‘usual’ because—when you love a man you feel that the things he says can never have been said before, in the same way, by any other man to any other woman.” ”

“ It was nature's signal, stronger in its frailty than any attained art of woman; and he answered to it as man has ever answered—ever will answer.
"Oh, my love!" he cried. "My love!" And his arms went round her.
It is sacrilege to attempt analysis of birth or love or death. Death and birth, the mysteries! Love, the revelation! Man, as he has existed through all time, had being in Blake's embrace; woman, as she has been from the first, lived in Maxine's leap of the heart, her leap of the spirit as the ecstasy of his touch thrilled her. Here was no coldness ”

“ We have but done our duty.”
“I have an enemy, who must have contrived this plot against me,” exclaimed Maxine, as if on a sudden thought. “It is said that ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ But what of a man who has been scorned—by a woman? ”

“ All pleasure I might have taken in my diamonds is gone now. I shall never have a peaceful moment—never be able to wear them joyfully. I shall have the thought in my mind that people who look at me will be saying: ‘Every woman has her price. There is the price of Maxine de Renzie.’”
“You need have no such thought, Mademoiselle,” the man protested. “We shall never speak to anyone except those who will receive our report, of what we have heard and seen in this room.” ”

“ If it had been my ghost it would have vanished immediately, to save Di from embarrassment, and also to prevent any delay in getting to Maxine’s. But, unfortunately, a flesh and blood young man must stop for conventional politeness before he can disappear, no matter what presses.
I said “How do you do?” to everyone, adding that I was as surprised to see them as they could be to see me. I even grinned civilly at Lord Robert West, though finding him here with Di, looking particularly pleased with himself, made me want to knock him down. ”

“ Yet I did the thing for Raoul’s sake. There’s that in my defence—only that.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, trying not to show the horror of Maxine’s treachery to a man who loved and trusted her, which I could not help feeling.
“How could you?—except that I’ve betrayed him! But I’ll tell you everything—I’ll go back a long way. Then you’ll pity me, even if you scorn me, too. You’ll work for me—to save me, and him. For years I’ve helped the British Government. Oh, I won’t spare myself. I’ve been a spy, sometimes against one Power, sometimes against another. ”

“ The hot color scorched Maxine's face; she rose quickly. "Jacqueline! I had not expected this!"
"Madame desired me to speak from the heart. The heart, at times, is unruly!"
"True! Forgive me. But you should not suggest a thing that you know to be impossible."
"Pardon, madame! I was thinking of the many impossibilities performed in a good cause!"
"Say no more, Jacqueline! To-night was to-night! To-night is over!" She walked across the room and passed out upon the balcony, leaning over the railing at the spot where Blake had stood. ”

“ Oh, she was a beautiful girl. Such big, clear blue eyes, such shining blond hair ... like, like a regular gold crown on her head. Her skin was as soft as ... as the petal of a flower, and she had the littlest feet.
He wasn't worthy of her. He wasn't even worthy to touch the hem of her garments. He, a big awkward farm boy without any manners. He wished he could give himself a good poke in the jaw for not saying right away, "Why, of course, Maxine. I would be delighted to give you a ride on my motorcycle." ”

“ Even if I could succeed, the noise would arouse the hotel. People would come. Other policemen would rush in to the help of their comrades, and matters would be worse with us than before.
The Frenchman, having looked at Maxine, and seen that tell-tale beating of her bodice, deliberately laid the silk cushions on the floor. Then, pushing his hand down between the seat and the back of the sofa, he moved it along the crevice inch by inch. ”

“ Perhaps now, even your mind will be changed. That happens with women sometimes. I want to warn you of a great danger that threatens you, Maxine. Perhaps, late as it is, I could save you from it if you’d let me.”
“Save me from what?” I asked temporising. “You’re very mysterious, Count Godensky. And I’m Mademoiselle de Renzie except to my very intimate friends.”
“I am your friend, always. Maybe you will even permit me to speak of myself as your ‘intimate friend’ when I have done what I hope to do for you in—in the matter of a certain document which has disappeared.” ”

“ First, there was Raoul to be put off and got out of the way—Raoul, my best beloved, whose help and protection I needed so much, yet must forego, and hurt him instead.
The stage-door keeper had orders to let him “come behind,” and so he was already waiting at the door of my little boudoir by the time Hélène had died, the curtain had gone down, and Maxine de Renzie had been able to leave the stage. ”

“ Of course Maxine had made a great hit, and all that; but she didn’t stand quite as high as she does now, since she’s become the fashion in Paris. Perhaps she had nothing except her salary, then, whereas she must have saved up a lot of money by this time. I have an idea that Ivor would have proposed to her when she was in London if he’d thought her success established.”
“Nonsense!” Di broke out, her cheeks very pink. “As if Ivor were the kind of man to think of such a thing!”
“He isn’t very rich, and he is very ambitious. ”

“ I have a dear little entresol and no end of jolly people. You must come and visit me some time. ... George lives in London with his syndicate."
"Well, and is that your plan of life?" demanded Maxine, looking up from under her stony brows like a classic fate. "It doesn't seem to me a very cheerful one."
"Life is a compromise. It's better to do without some things you would like than to put up with things you hate. I hate George's way of wearing his hair, and his boots, and his calling me 'Frances.' Why couldn't he call me Frank, as everybody else does? ”