Jonah and Co Part 59

"--and, after that, I've given my husband the lot. You do understand, don't you? You see, I must keep in with him. He feeds me and lodges me and clothes me and----"

The Frenchman bowed.

"If he has clothed you to-night, Madame, I can forgive him anything."

We pa.s.sed to a table at which Berry was superintending the icing of some champagne.

"Ah, there you are!" he exclaimed. "Had your evening dance? Good. I ordered this little hopeful _pour pa.s.ser le temps_. They've two more baubles in the offing, and sharp at one-thirty we start on fried eggs and beer. Judging from the contracts into which my wife has entered during the last six minutes, we shall be here till three." Here he produced and prepared to inflate an air-cus.h.i.+on. "The great wheeze about these shock-absorbers is not to----"

There was a horrified cry from Daphne and a shriek of laughter from Adele and Jill.

"I implore you," said my sister, "to put that thing away."

"What thing?" said her husband, applying the nozzle to his lips.

"That cus.h.i.+on thing. How could you----"

"What! Sc.r.a.p my blow-me-tight?" said Berry. "Darling, you rave.

You're going to spend the next four hours afloat upon your beautiful toes, with a large spade-shaped hand supporting the small of your back.

I'm not. I'm going to maintain a sitting posture, with one of the 'nests for rest' provided by a malignant Casino directly intervening between the base of my trunk and the floor. Now, I know that intervention. It's of the harsh, unyielding type. Hence this air-pocket."

With that, he stepped on to the floor, raised the air-cus.h.i.+on as if it were an instrument of music, and, adopting the att.i.tude and manners of a cornet soloist, exhaled into the nozzle with all his might.

There was a roar of laughter.

Then, mercifully, the band started, and the embarra.s.sing attention of about sixty pairs of eyes was diverted accordingly.

A moment later my brother-in-law and I had the table to ourselves.

"And now," said Berry, "forward with that bauble. The Rump Parliament is off."

Perhaps, because it was a warm evening, the Casino's furnaces were in full blast. After a while the heat became oppressive. Presently I left Berry to the champagne and went for a stroll in the Palmarium.

As I was completing my second lap--

"Captain Pleydell," said a dignified voice.

I turned to see Mrs. Waterbrook, leaning upon a stick, accompanied by a remarkably pretty young lady with her hair down her back.

I came to them swiftly.

"Have you met with an accident?" I inquired.

"I have. I've ricked my ankle. Susan, this is Captain Pleydell, whose cousin is going to marry Piers. Captain Pleydell, this is Susan--my only niece. Now I'm going to sit down." I escorted her to a chair.

"That's better. Captain Pleydell, have you seen the Chateau?"

"Often," said I. "A large grey building with a red keep, close to the scent-shop."

"One to you," said Mrs. Waterbrook. "Now I'll begin again. Captain Pleydell, have you seen the inside of the Chateau?"

"I have not."

"Then you ought," said Mrs. Waterbrook, "to be ashamed of yourself.

You've been six months in Pau, and you've never taken the trouble to go and look at one of the finest collections of tapestries in the world.

What are you doing to-morrow morning?"

"Going to see the inside of the Chateau," I said.

"Good. So's Susan. She'll meet you at the gate on the Boulevard at half-past ten. She only arrived yesterday, and now her mother wants her, and she's got to go back. She's wild to see the Chateau before she goes, and I can't take her because of this silly foot."

"I'm awfully sorry," said I. "But it's an ill wind, etc."

"Susan," said Mrs. Waterbrook, "that's a compliment. Is it your first?"

"No," said Susan. "But it's the slickest."

"The what?" cried her aunt.

"I mean, I didn't see it coming."

I began to like Susan.

"'Slickest,'" snorted Mrs. Waterbrook. "Nasty vulgar slang. If you were going to be here longer, Captain Pleydell's wife should give you lessons in English. She isn't a teacher, you know. She's an American--with a silver tongue. And there's that wretched bell." She rose to her feet. "If I'd remembered that Manon had more than three acts, I wouldn't have come." She turned to me. "Is Jill here to-night?"

"She is."

"Will you tell her to come and find us in the next interval?"

"I will."

"Good. Half-past ten to-morrow. Good night."

On the way to the doors of the theatre she stopped to speak with someone, and Susan came running back.

"Captain Pleydell, is your wife here?"

I nodded.

"Well, then, when Jill's with Aunt Eleanor, d'you think I could--I mean, if you wouldn't mind, I'd--I'd love a lesson in English."

I began to like Susan more than ever.

"I'll see if she's got a spare hour to-morrow," I said. "At half-past ten."

Susan knitted her brows.

"No, don't upset that," she said quickly. "It doesn't matter. I want to be able to tell them I had you alone. But if I could say I'd met your wife, too, it'd be simply golden."