nelson vanderlyn, still in his travelling clothes, paused on thethreshold of his own dining-room and surveyed the scene withpardonable satisfaction.
he was a short round man, with a grizzled head, small facetiouseyes and a large and credulous smile.
at the luncheon table sat his wife, between charlie streffordand nick lansing. next to strefford, perched on her high chair,clarissa throned in infant beauty, while susy lansing cut up apeach for her. through wide orange awnings the sun slanted inupon the white-clad group.
"well--well--well! so i've caught you at it!" cried the happyfather, whose inveterate habit it was to address his wife andfriends as if he had surprised them at an inopportune moment.
stealing up from behind, he lifted his daughter into the air,while a chorus of "hello, old nelson," hailed his appearance.
it was two or three years since nick lansing had seen mr.
vanderlyn, who was now the london representative of the big newyork bank of vanderlyn & co., and had exchanged his sumptuoushouse in fifth avenue for another, more sumptuous still, inmayfair; and the young man looked curiously and attentively athis host.
mr. vanderlyn had grown older and stouter, but his face stillkept its look of somewhat worn optimism. he embraced his wife,greeted susy affectionately, and distributed cordial hand-graspsto the two men.
"hullo," he exclaimed, suddenly noticing a pearl and coraltrinket hanging from clarissa's neck. "who's been giving mydaughter jewellery, i'd like to know!""oh, streffy did--just think, father! because i said i'd ratherhave it than a book, you know," clarissa lucidly explained, herarms tight about her father's neck, her beaming eyes onstrefford.
nelson vanderlyn's own eyes took on the look of shrewdness whichcame into them whenever there was a question of material values.
"what, streffy? caught you at it, eh? upon my soul-spoilingthe brat like that! you'd no business to, my dear chap-alovely baroque pearl--" he protested, with the half-apologetictone of the rich man embarrassed by too costly a gift from animpecunious friend.
"oh, hadn't i? why? because it's too good for clarissa, or tooexpensive for me? of course you daren't imply the first; and asfor me--i've had a windfall, and am blowing it in on theladies."strefford, lansing had noticed, always used american slang whenhe was slightly at a loss, and wished to divert attention fromthe main point. but why was he embarrassed, whose attention didhe wish to divert, it was plain that vanderlyn's protest hadbeen merely formal: like most of the wealthy, he had only thedimmest notion of what money represented to the poor. but itwas unusual for strefford to give any one a present, andespecially an expensive one: perhaps that was what had fixedvanderlyn's attention.
"a windfall?" he gaily repeated.
"oh, a tiny one: i was offered a thumping rent for my littleplace at como, and dashed over here to squander my millions withthe rest of you," said strefford imperturbably.
vanderlyn's look immediately became interested and sympathetic.
"what--the scene of the honey-moon?" he included nick and susyin his friendly smile.
"just so: the reward of virtue. i say, give me a cigar, willyou, old man, i left some awfully good ones at como, worseluck--and i don't mind telling you that ellie's no judge oftobacco, and that nick's too far gone in bliss to care what hesmokes," strefford grumbled, stretching a hand toward his host'scigar-case.
"i do like jewellery best," clarissa murmured, hugging herfather.
nelson vanderlyn's first word to his wife had been that he hadbrought her all her toggery; and she had welcomed him withappropriate enthusiasm. in fact, to the lookers-on her joy atseeing him seemed rather too patently in proportion to hersatisfaction at getting her clothes. but no such suspicionappeared to mar mr. vanderlyn's happiness in being, for once,and for nearly twenty-four hours, under the same roof with hiswife and child. he did not conceal his regret at havingpromised his mother to join her the next day; and added, with awistful glance at ellie: "if only i'd known you meant to waitfor me!"but being a man of duty, in domestic as well as businessaffairs, he did not even consider the possibility ofdisappointing the exacting old lady to whom he owed his being.
"mother cares for so few people," he used to say, not without atouch of filial pride in the parental exclusiveness, "that ihave to be with her rather more than if she were more sociable";and with smiling resignation he gave orders that clarissa shouldbe ready to start the next evening.
"and meanwhile," he concluded, "we'll have all the good timethat's going."the ladies of the party seemed united in the desire to furtherthis resolve; and it was settled that as soon as mr. vanderlynhad despatched a hasty luncheon, his wife, clarissa and susyshould carry him off for a tea-picnic at torcello. they did noteven suggest that strefford or nick should be of the party, orthat any of the other young men of the group should be summoned;as susy said, nelson wanted to go off alone with his harem. andlansing and strefford were left to watch the departure of thehappy pasha ensconced between attentive beauties.
"well--that's what you call being married!" streffordcommented, waving his battered panama at clarissa.
"oh, no, i don't!" lansing laughed.
"he does. but do you know--" strefford paused and swung abouton his companion--"do you know, when the rude awakening comes, idon't care to be there. i believe there'll be some crockerybroken.""shouldn't wonder," lansing answered indifferently. he wanderedaway to his own room, leaving strefford to philosophize to hispipe.
lansing had always known about poor old nelson: who hadn't,except poor old nelson? the case had once seemed amusingbecause so typical; now, it rather irritated nick that vanderlynshould be so complete an ass. but he would be off the next day,and so would ellie, and then, for many enchanted weeks, thepalace would once more be the property of nick and susy. of allthe people who came and went in it, they were the only ones whoappreciated it, or knew how it was meant to be lived in; andthat made it theirs in the only valid sense. in this light itbecame easy to regard the vanderlyns as mere transientintruders.
having relegated them to this convenient distance, lansing shuthimself up with his book. he had returned to it with freshenergy after his few weeks of holiday-making, and was determinedto finish it quickly. he did not expect that it would bring inmuch money; but if it were moderately successful it might givehim an opening in the reviews and magazines, and in that case hemeant to abandon archaeology for novels, since it was only as apurveyor of fiction that he could count on earning a living forhimself and susy.
late in the afternoon he laid down his pen and wandered out ofdoors. he loved the increasing heat of the venetian summer, thebruised peach-tints of worn house-fronts, the enamelling ofsunlight on dark green canals, the smell of half-decayed fruitsand flowers thickening the languid air. what visions he couldbuild, if he dared, of being tucked away with susy in the atticof some tumble-down palace, above a jade-green waterway, with aterrace overhanging a scrap of neglected garden--and chequesfrom the publishers dropping in at convenient intervals! whyshould they not settle in venice if he pulled it off!
he found himself before the church of the scalzi, and pushingopen the leathern door wandered up the nave under the whirl ofrose-and-lemon angels in tiepolo's great vault. it was not achurch in which one was likely to run across sight-seers; but hepresently remarked a young lady standing alone near the choir,and assiduously applying her field-glass to the celestialvortex, from which she occasionally glanced down at an openmanual.
as lansing's step sounded on the pavement, the young lady,turning, revealed herself as miss hicks.
"ah--you like this too? it's several centuries out of yourline, though, isn't it!" nick asked as they shook hands.
she gazed at him gravely. "why shouldn't one like things thatare out of one's line?" she answered; and he agreed, with alaugh, that it was often an incentive.
she continued to fix her grave eyes on him, and after one or tworemarks about the tiepolos he perceived that she was feeling herway toward a subject of more personal interest.
"i'm glad to see you alone," she said at length, with anabruptness that might have seemed awkward had it not been socompletely unconscious. she turned toward a cluster of strawchairs, and signed to nick to seat himself beside her.
"i seldom do," she added, with the serious smile that made herheavy face almost handsome; and she went on, giving him no timeto protest: "i wanted to speak to you--to explain aboutfather's invitation to go with us to persia and turkestan.""to explain?""yes. you found the letter when you arrived here just afteryour marriage, didn't you? you must have thought it odd, ourasking you just then; but we hadn't heard that you weremarried.""oh, i guessed as much: it happened very quietly, and i wasremiss about announcing it, even to old friends."lansing frowned. his thoughts had wandered away to the eveningwhen he had found mrs. hicks's letter in the mail awaiting himat venice. the day was associated in his mind with theridiculous and mortifying episode of the cigars--the expensivecigars that susy had wanted to carry away from strefford'svilla. their brief exchange of views on the subject had leftthe first blur on the perfect surface of his happiness, and hestill felt an uncomfortable heat at the remembrance. for a fewhours the prospect of life with susy had seemed unendurable; andit was just at that moment that he had found the letter frommrs. hicks, with its almost irresistible invitation. if onlyher daughter had known how nearly he had accepted it!
"it was a dreadful temptation," he said, smiling.
"to go with us? then why--?""oh, everything's different now: i've got to stick to mywriting."miss hicks still bent on him the same unblinking scrutiny.
"does that mean that you're going to give up your real work?""my real work--archaeology?" he smiled again to hide a twitchof regret. "why, i'm afraid it hardly produces a living wage;and i've got to think of that." he coloured suddenly, as ifsuspecting that miss hicks might consider the avowal an openingfor he hardly knew what ponderous offer of aid. the hicksmunificence was too uncalculating not to be occasionallyoppressive. but looking at her again he saw that her eyes werefull of tears.
"i thought it was your vocation," she said.
"so did i. but life comes along, and upsets things.""oh, i understand. there may be things--worth giving up allother things for.""there are!" cried nick with beaming emphasis.
he was conscious that miss hicks's eyes demanded of him evenmore than this sweeping affirmation.
"but your novel may fail," she said with her odd harshness.
"it may--it probably will," he agreed. "but if one stopped toconsider such possibilities--""don't you have to, with a wife?""oh, my dear coral--how old are you? not twenty?" hequestioned, laying a brotherly hand on hers.
she stared at him a moment, and sprang up clumsily from herchair. "i was never young ... if that's what you mean. it'slucky, isn't it, that my parents gave me such a grand education?
because, you see, art's a wonderful resource." (she pronouncedit re-source.)he continued to look at her kindly. "you won't need it--or anyother--when you grow young, as you will some day," he assuredher.
"do you mean, when i fall in love? but i am in love--oh,there's eldorada and mr. beck!" she broke off with a jerk,signalling with her field-glass to the pair who had justappeared at the farther end of the nave. "i told them that ifthey'd meet me here to-day i'd try to make them understandtiepolo. because, you see, at home we never really haveunderstood tiepolo; and mr. beck and eldorada are the only onesto realize it. mr. buttles simply won't." she turned tolansing and held out her hand. "i am in love," she repeatedearnestly, "and that's the reason why i find art such a resource."she restored her eye-glasses, opened her manual, and strodeacross the church to the expectant neophytes.
lansing, looking after her, wondered for half a moment whethermr. beck were the object of this apparently unrequitedsentiment; then, with a queer start of introspection, abruptlydecided that, no, he certainly was not. but then--but then--.
well, there was no use in following up such conjectures .... heturned home-ward, wondering if the picnickers had alreadyreached palazzo vanderlyn.
they got back only in time for a late dinner, full of chaff andlaughter, and apparently still enchanted with each other'ssociety. nelson vanderlyn beamed on his wife, sent his daughteroff to bed with a kiss, and leaning back in his armchair beforethe fruit-and-flower-laden table, declared that he'd never spenta jollier day in his life. susy seemed to come in for a fullshare of his approbation, and lansing thought that ellie wasunusually demonstrative to her friend. strefford, from hishostess's side, glanced across now and then at young mrs.
lansing, and his glance seemed to lansing a confidential commenton the vanderlyn raptures. but then strefford was always havingprivate jokes with people or about them; and lansing wasirritated with himself for perpetually suspecting his bestfriends of vague complicities at his expense. "if i'm going tobe jealous of streffy now--!" he concluded with a grimace ofself-derision.
certainly susy looked lovely enough to justify the mostirrational pangs. as a girl she had been, for some people'staste, a trifle fine-drawn and sharp-edged; now, to her oldlightness of line was added a shadowy bloom, a sort of star-reflecting depth. her movements were slower, less angular; hermouth had a needing droop, her lids seemed weighed down by theirlashes; and then suddenly the old spirit would reveal itselfthrough the new languor, like the tartness at the core of asweet fruit. as her husband looked at her across the flowersand lights he laughed inwardly at the nothingness of all thingselse.
vanderlyn and clarissa left betimes the next morning; and mrs.
vanderlyn, who was to start for st. moritz in the afternoon,devoted her last hours to anxious conferences with her maid andsusy. strefford, with fred gillow and the others, had gone fora swim at the lido, and lansing seized the opportunity to getback to his book.
the quietness of the great echoing place gave him a foretaste ofthe solitude to come. by mid-august all their party would bescattered: the hickses off on a cruise to crete and the aegean,fred gillow on the way to his moor, strefford to stay withfriends in capri till his annual visit to northumberland inseptember. one by one the others would follow, and lansing andsusy be left alone in the great sun-proof palace, alone underthe star-laden skies, alone with the great orange moons-stilltheirs!--above the bell-tower of san giorgio. the novel, inthat blessed quiet, would unfold itself as harmoniously as hisdreams.
he wrote on, forgetful of the passing hours, till the dooropened and he heard a step behind him. the next moment twohands were clasped over his eyes, and the air was full of mrs.
vanderlyn's last new scent.
"you dear thing--i'm just off, you know," she said. "susy toldme you were working, and i forbade her to call you down. sheand streffy are waiting to take me to the station, and i've runup to say good-bye.""ellie, dear!" full of compunction, lansing pushed aside hiswriting and started up; but she pressed him back into his seat.
"no, no! i should never forgive myself if i'd interrupted you.
i oughtn't to have come up; susy didn't want me to. but i hadto tell you, you dear .... i had to thank you..."in her dark travelling dress and hat, so discreetly conspicuous,so negligent and so studied, with a veil masking her paint, andgloves hiding her rings, she looked younger, simpler, morenatural than he had ever seen her. poor ellie such a goodfellow, after all!
"to thank me? for what? for being so happy here?" he laughed,taking her hands.
she looked at him, laughed back, and flung her arms about hisneck.
"for helping me to be so happy elsewhere--you and susy, you twoblessed darlings!" she cried, with a kiss on his cheek.
their eyes met for a second; then her arms slipped slowlydownward, dropping to her sides. lansing sat before her like astone.
"oh," she gasped, "why do you stare so? didn't you know ...?"they heard strefford's shrill voice on the stairs. "ellie,where the deuce are you? susy's in the gondola. you'll missthe train!"lansing stood up and caught mrs. vanderlyn by the wrist. "whatdo you mean? what are you talking about?""oh, nothing ... but you were both such bricks about theletters .... and when nelson was here, too .... nick, don'thurt my wrist so! i must run!"he dropped her hand and stood motionless, staring after her andlistening to the click of her high heels as she fled across theroom and along the echoing corridor.
when he turned back to the table he noticed that a small moroccocase had fallen among his papers. in falling it had opened, andbefore him, on the pale velvet lining, lay a scarf-pin set witha perfect pearl. he picked the box up, and was about to hastenafter mrs. vanderlyn--it was so like her to shed jewels on herpath!--when he noticed his own initials on the cover.
he dropped the box as if it had been a hot coal, and sat for along while gazing at the gold n. l., which seemed to have burntitself into his flesh.
at last he roused himself and stood up.
