The Powers and Maxine | Page 4

conservatory, which can be
reached in that way, but I cried her name as loudly as I could, and she
heard. Only a moment she paused--long enough to send Lord Robert
away--and then she came straight to me. He must have been furious:
but I didn't care for that.
I had been wanting her badly, but when I saw her, so bright and

beautiful, looking as if she were the joy of life made incarnate, I should
have liked to strike her hard, first on one cheek and then the other,
deepening the rose to crimson, and leaving an ugly red mark for each
finger.
"Have you a headache, dear?" she asked, in that velvet voice she keeps
for me--as if I were a thing only fit for pity and protection.
"It's my heart," said I. "It feels like a clock running down. Oh, I wish I
could die, and end it all! What's the good of me--to myself or anyone?"
"Don't talk like that, my poor one," she said. "Shall I take you upstairs
to your own room?"
"No, I think I should faint if I had to go upstairs," I answered. "Yet I
can't stay here. What shall I do?"
"What about Uncle Eric's study?" Di asked. She always calls Lord
Mountstuart 'Uncle Eric,' though he isn't her uncle. Her mother and his
wife were sisters, that's all: and then there was the other sister who
married the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, a cousin of Lord
Mountstuart's. That family seemed to have a craze for American girls;
but Lord Mountstuart makes an exception of me. He's civil, of course,
because he's an abject slave of Di's, and she refused to come and pay a
visit in England without me: but I give him the shivers, I know very
well: and I take an impish joy in making him jump.
"I'm sure he won't be there this evening," Di went on, when I hesitated.
"He's playing bridge with a lot of dear old boys in the library, or was,
half an hour ago. Come, let me help you there. It's only a step."
She put her pretty arm round my waist, and leaning on her I walked
across the room, out into a corridor, through a tiny "bookroom" where
odd volumes and old magazines are kept, into Lord Mountstuart's
study.
It is a nice room, which he uses much as his wife uses her boudoir. The
library next door is rather a show place, but the study has only Lord

Mountstuart's favourite books in it. He writes there (he has written a
novel or two, and thinks himself literary), and some pictures he has
painted in different parts of the world hang on the walls: for he also
fancies himself artistic.
In one corner is a particularly comfortable, cushiony lounge where, I
suppose, the distinguished author lies and thinks out his subjects, or
dreams them out. And it was to this that Di led me.
She settled me among some fat pillows of old purple and gold brocade,
and asked if she should ring and get a little brandy.
"No," I said, "I shall feel better in a few minutes. It's so nice and cool
here."
"You look better already!" exclaimed Di. "Soon, when you've lain and
rested awhile, you'll be a different girl."
"Ah, how I wish I could be a different girl!" I sighed. "A strong, well
girl, and tall and beautiful, and admired by everyone,--like you--or
Maxine de Renzie."
"What makes you think of her?" asked Di, quickly.
"Ivor was just talking to me of her. You know he calls me his 'pal,' and
tells me things he doesn't tell everybody. He thinks a great deal about
Maxine, still."
"She'd be a difficult woman to forget, if she's as attractive off the stage
as she is on."
"What a pity we didn't come in time to meet here when she was playing
in London with George Allendale. Everybody used to invite her to their
houses, it seems. Ivor was telling me that he first met her here, and that
it's such a pleasant memory, whenever he comes to this house. I
suppose that's one reason he likes to come so much."
"No doubt," said Di sharply.

"He got so fascinated talking of her," I went on. "He almost forgot that
he had a dance with Mrs. Allendale. 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