on these warm august evenings ishbel and julia had their dinner in the garden under a beech tree. ishbel’s bright courage seldom failed her, but she was grateful for julia’s companionship and help during this the most trying period of her life, and julia, glad to be necessary to some one, above all to her favorite friend, responded without any of the usual feminine fervors, and the harmony between them remained unbroken. mr. jones, helpless in body and bitter in mind, demanded every moment his wife could give him, but occasionally permitted julia to take her place and read the war news aloud.
between the defeat of the boer forces at diamond hill and the beginning of kitchener’s “drives,” there was less demand for mourning garments; the war, indeed, was believed to be over. ishbel and julia rose later and left the shop earlier. both were haggard and needed rest. they made a deliberate attempt to enjoy their evening meal, refusing to discuss immediate deaths and hypothetical disaster, and tab?ing personal topics. there was still plenty to discuss, and so many reminiscences of officers that had left their lives or their looks in the south african graveyard, that it was easy to steer clear of private anxieties. but one evening after the cloth was removed and they were alone, julia said abruptly:?—
“i had a letter from harold to-day—directed to the shop. he had just learned that i had not gone to nevis. he did not say who gave him my address?—”
“yes?” the word had a fashion of flying from ishbel’s lips at all times. now she sat forward in alarm. “yes?”
“he says that i am to return to white lodge to-morrow.”
“but of course you will not!”
“of course not. i consulted a solicitor some time ago. he cannot compel me to live with him. on the other hand?—”
“yes?”
“as i am unable to get a legal separation i cannot prevent him from forcing himself into my rooms, annoying me in a thousand ways. he might even come to the shop and make a scene.”
“well, it is my shop, and i can have him put out. did you tell the solicitor other things? is there really no chance of a legal separation?”
“he did not seem to think well of my reasons for wanting one. i could not bring myself to tell him much, and i have kept it in the background so long it seemed rather dim and flat—the little i did tell him. he said that mental cruelty existed largely in women’s imaginations. then he consoled me by adding that if i refused to return, harold might be betrayed into some overt act before witnesses, perhaps later give me cause for divorce. but i don’t think so. he is very cunning. his instinct for self-protection is almost abnormal. i told the lawyer i believed harold to be insane, and he was quite shocked; said there was too much talk already of insanity in the great families of britain, and it was doing them harm with the lower orders—intimated that it was my duty to keep such an affliction dark if it really had descended upon the house of france. when i told him i knew that at least two of harold’s ancestors had been shut up for years at bosquith, and not so long ago, he fairly squirmed. then he advised me to conceal both my knowledge and my suspicions if i hoped for a divorce. the law is far more tender to its lunatics than to their victims. harold, shut up for twenty—thirty—forty years would continue to be my husband on the off chance of his cure—while i consoled myself with the prospect of his release! on the other hand, if left at large he may give me cause for divorce. that was the only argument that appealed to me. my legal friend ended by advising me to return to nevis—this, i feel sure, in the interests of the british aristocracy. i’d like to make over a few laws in this country.”
“that is what bridgit says. the women of the lower classes might almost as well be slaves in the congo. they can’t divorce a merely drunken brute, and a legal separation does them little good. if a man wants to desert his family all he has to do is to go to the midlands or the north and disappear in a coal mine, while his wife, unable to marry a better man, sinks to the dregs in the effort to support herself, perhaps half a dozen children. the laws in this country might have been made by turks. who ever hears of a man being punished because he is the father of the child a wretched girl has murdered? oh—some day—let us hope—but we have the present to deal with. have you answered france’s letter?”
“yes, i wrote him that i never should return to him, that i had had legal advice, that i was able to support myself, that i wished never to hear from him again. also, that any further letters i received from him i should return unopened to his club. i did not write a page, but i fancy he cannot mistake my meaning.”
“i am afraid he will persecute you, but you must be brave. if necessary, you might hide in the country for a bit, or go over to paris for me?—”
“i shall stay here at work. he can do his worst.”
but, alas, it was always harold france’s good fortune to be underrated. julia, well as she knew him, had never yet gauged the depth and extent of his resources. some strange arrest in his mental development, possibly a forgotten blow during boyhood, or a prenatal check, had left him with a quick, cunning, malicious, scheming mind which otherwise might have been brilliant, unscrupulous, and resourceful in the grand manner. possibly it might have been useful as well; and this may have been the secret of those vague angry ambitions, always seething in the base of his cramped brain. whatever the cause, his mind required a constant grievance to feed on, and whatever his limitations, they were never too great to interfere with the success of his devilish purposes.
three mornings later ishbel and julia arrived in bond street at a few minutes before eleven. royalty was expected at a quarter past, and as they ascended the stairs they were not surprised to see the forewoman, pale and trembling, standing at the turn. when royalty had arrived—unheralded—the day before, she had almost wept, and her assistant had succumbed and been obliged to leave the room. it was the first time that royalty had honored the shop in bond street, smart as it was, and when the princess left she had announced that on the morrow she should return with her two girls. ishbel had felt sure that her women would not close their eyes during the night, and be quite unfit for the strain of the second visit. therefore, she laughed merrily as she saw miss slocum’s twisted visage.
“brace up! brace up!” she cried. “you have nearly twenty minutes yet. and am i not here? mrs. france and i will wait on their royal highnesses?—”
“oh, your ladyship,” wailed the woman. “it ain’t that—or, i mean i could stand it much better to-day. i’d made up my mind. no! it’s worse!”
“worse?”
the woman glanced up the half flight behind her. the door leading into the show-room was closed. “oh, your ladyship, there’s two awful creatures in there, and their royal highnesses coming in ten minutes. i told them to go?—”
“but i don’t understand. every one has a right to come here. i can’t have any of my customers put out for royalty. i am not being honored by a call. this is a shop?—”
“oh, yes, my lady, but you don’t understand. you’ve never had this sort?—”
“what sort?”
the woman’s voice quavered and broke. “tarts, my lady. regular piccadilly trotters, that’s what!”
ishbel was as dismayed as the woman could wish. followed by her equally horrified friend she brushed the forewoman aside, ran up the stair, and entered the show-room. the large windows, open to the gay subdued roar of bond street, let in a flood of mellow sunshine. the square room, not too large, and with a mere suggestion of the first empire in its wall paper and scant furniture, was a severe yet delicate background for the most charming hats ever seen in london. of every shape and size, but each touched with a fairy’s wand, these harbingers of autumn, hopefully prismatic, and mounted on slender rods, seemed to sing that woman’s face was naught without its frame, and that in them alone was the problem of the floating decoration solved.
but alas! no such fantasie was in the air this morning. “creatures,” in truth! two females, loudly dyed, rouged, blackened, bedecked in cheap finery, were overhauling hats, mantles, and chiffons, despite the protests of the livid assistant. ishbel went directly up to the largest and most aggressive.
“i am so sorry,” she said with her sweet remote smile and her bright crisp manner, “but i must ask you to go. some other time i shall be most happy to show you the things, but just now everything must be put in order as quickly as possible. i am expecting patrons who are in town only for the moment. as you see, this room is not very large. be quick, jeannie, will you?”
she turned her back on the two women, but the largest walked deliberately round in front of her.
“i say,” she said, “are you the boss?”
“i am—jeannie—”
“i say. what’s a shop for if ladies can’t call and see things? is this a private shop for your friends?”
“no, but this morning is exceptional. i really must ask you to go—” she glanced at the clock. it was nearly ten minutes past eleven, and royalty was hideously prompt. “i dislike being rude, but i must ask you to go at once.”
“really, now!” the woman sat herself on the little sofa before the mantel and spread out her gaudy skirts. “i ain’t going to be put out. brass is brass, and mine’s as good as any. wot you say, frenchie?”
“that’s what.” her partner was holding a large hat on her uplifted arm, and twirling it from side to side. “and i want a hat. don’t mind trying ’em all on, one by one.”
“if you don’t go at once, i shall call the police.”
“police? wot for? ain’t we behaving ourselves proper? i call that libel, i do.”
at this moment the door, which ishbel had taken care to close, flew open, and royalty entered, followed by two slim young daughters. the eyes of the lady on the sofa bulged, but her presence of mind did not desert her. she sprang to her feet and threw her arm round ishbel’s waist.
“your hats are too sweet, dearie,” she exclaimed. “i shall take four to-day and come back to-morrow?—”
at the same moment the other woman, who had dropped the hat, lit a cigarette.
royalty gasped, made a motion not unlike that of a mother hen when she spreads her wings to protect her chicks from a sudden shower, then shooed her girls out and down the stairs.
ishbel made no motion to detain her. no explanation was possible. she saw ruin, but she merely removed her waist from the embrace of the woman and turned her white composed face upon both of the invaders.
“will you explain what spite you have against me?” she asked.
“oh!” cried julia, passionately. “can’t you see? france has sent them.”
“right you are, dearie,” said the younger cocotte, smoking comfortably. “and here we stay till you pack up and go home to your lawful husband. lucky you are to have one. oh, yes, my lady, you can call in the bobbies, but this is the middle of bond street, and we’ll raise such a hell of a row as we’re being dragged out there won’t be anybody else coming up here in a hurry.”
julia turned to her. “if i leave this shop and promise never to return, will you agree to do the same?”
“if you go back to your husband. if you don’t, here we, and more of us, come every day, unless, of course, her ladyship has us put out! your leaving the shop won’t help matters any. you go back to white lodge. france is an old pal of mine, but it isn’t often we see his brass. jolly lark this is, too.”
“very well,” said julia. “i shall go.”
“you shall not!” cried ishbel, passionately. “my business is ruined in any case. we can go to america?—”
“and leave mr. jones? he is dependent upon you for shelter. your business is not ruined. of course the princess will not come again, but you have powerful friends that will explain to her and prevent the story from spreading?—”
“right you are. france ain’t aiming to spite her. but he’ll ruin every friend you’ve got unless you go home, double quick.”
“i shall go this afternoon.” and julia ran down the stairs and out of the building before ishbel could detain her.
