Dross Part 30

"Then, my dear Giraud," said Turner, laying his fatherly hand on the Frenchman's shoulder, "say nothing about it. It is no matter for pride. Devar was once my clerk, and would now be doing penal servitude if I had not let him off. Shall we go to luncheon?"

But Alphonse was not to be mollified, and during a meal, of which Turner duly appreciated the merits, concealed his annoyance with a tact truly French. He was a little more formal in his speech--a little more ceremonious in manner, and John Turner ignored these signs with a placid a.s.surance for which I was grateful.

"Where did you pick up Devar?" asked the banker, when the edge of his appet.i.te had been blunted by cold game pie.

"He picked me up," answered I; and went on to explain how this gentleman had forced himself upon us, and how Sander had given me a plain hint how to rid myself of him.

"Of course," said John Turner, "he is in league with Miste, and has been keeping him informed of your movements. If you see Devar again, kick him. I had that pleasure myself once, but I'm afraid you will never get the chance. The man has had a finger in every Anglo-French swindle of the last ten years. He dares not show his face in Paris."

We continued to talk of Mr. Devar and his liabilities, of which the least seemed to be the risk of a kicking from myself. The man had, it appeared, sailed too near the wind of fraud on several occasions, and John Turner held him in the hollow of his hand.

Alphonse, however, was not to be appeased. His honour had, as he imagined, been a.s.sailed by this insult to one upon whom he had bestowed his friends.h.i.+p, and he took no part in our talk when it was of Devar.

Turner did not stay long after we had finished our wine.

"No," he said, "if I do not keep moving I shall go to sleep."

When he had left us, Alphonse showed a restlessness which soon culminated in departure, and I sat down to write to Sander. The rapid exit (which ultimately proved to be as complete as it was sudden) of Mr. Devar could not fail to have some bearing on the quest in which Sander was engaged, and I now recapitulated in mind many suspicious incidents connected with the well-dressed adventurer who had so easily found an entree to Isabella's house.

Alphonse went, as I later learnt, straight to Hyde Park Street, and found Isabella alone. For Madame de Clericy and Lucille were regular in their attendance at a neighbouring Roman Catholic Church, whither many Frenchwomen resorted at this time to pray for their friends and country.

"Howard," said Alphonse, "has grossly insulted Mr. Devar. In my country such an incident would not pa.s.s without bloodshed."

And he related, with considerable fire, the scene in the smoking-room at the club.

"But it was Mr. Turner and not d.i.c.k who insulted Mr. Devar."

"That is true, but Howard planned the whole--it was a trick, a trap."

"A clever trap," said Isabella, with her incomprehensible smile. "I did not know that d.i.c.k had the wit."

"Mr. Turner appears to have known Devar before," explained Alphonse, "and seemed to have some cause for complaint against him, though I do not believe all he said. And now Howard wantonly insults one of your friends, a gentleman who has dined in this house. He takes too much upon himself. If you will only say the word, Miss Gayerson, I will quarrel with Howard myself."

And Isabella, as Alphonse subsequently told me, received this offer with an ill-concealed smile.

"d.i.c.k is not afraid of the responsibility," she said, and did not appear so resentful as her champion.

"But why did he do it?"

Isabella did not answer at once, and Alphonse, whose good heart invariably tricked his temper, made a suggestion.

"Is it because he thought Mr. Devar no fit friend for yourself, Miss Gayerson?"

Isabella laughed derisively before she did me another wrong.

"He does not trouble about me or my affairs," she answered. "No, it is because Mr. Devar is too clever a person to be a welcome observer of d.i.c.k's actions. d.i.c.k probably knows that Mr. Devar is an expert in money matters, and less easy to deceive than yourself and a few ignorant and trusting women."

"You mean in the matter of my fortune?"

"Yes," replied the friend of my childhood. "It is probable that Mr.

Devar suspects what others suspect. But you are so simple, Monsieur Giraud!"

Alphonse shrugged his shoulders.

"It is not that--Mademoiselle," he said with his light laugh. "It is that I am a fool."

Isabella was not looking at him, but at her quiet hands clasped together on her lap.

"We all know," she said, "that d.i.c.k is supplying Madame de Clericy with money that does not come from her estates. Whence does it come?"

"You suggest," said Alphonse, "that Howard has recovered my money and is supporting Madame de Clericy and Lucille with it."

What answer Isabella would have made to this I know not, for it was at this moment that the servant threw open the door and ushered me into a silence which was significant even to one of no very quick understanding. I saw that Alphonse Giraud was agitated and caught a singular gleam in Isabella's eyes. I suppose she was one of those women who take pleasure in stirring up strife between men. Her cheeks had a faint pink flush on them that made her suddenly beautiful. I had never noticed her looks before.

It was Alphonse who spoke first.

"There are several points, Monsieur," he said, angrily, "upon which I demand an explanation."

"All right--but I am not going to quarrel with you, Giraud."

I looked very straight at Isabella, whose eyes, however, did not fall under mine. But I think she knew that I blamed her for this.

"You have insulted a friend of Miss Gayerson's."

"A matter," was my reply, "which rests between Miss Gayerson and myself. I have rid her house of a scoundrel--that is all."

I thought Isabella was going to speak, but she closed her pale lips again and glanced at Alphonse.

"You have been supplying Madame de Clericy with money during the last six months?" said he.--"Yes."

"Your own money?"--"Most certainly"--and I was soft-hearted enough to omit reminding him that he owed me a thousand francs.

"You have repeatedly told me," pursued Alphonse, who seemed to be nursing his anger into an artificial life, "that you are penniless.

Whence comes this money?"

"I borrowed it."

"And if Madame de Clericy fails to repay you, you will be ruined?"

"Precisely."

"And you ask me to believe that," laughed Giraud, scornfully.

"No," answered I, going towards the door, for my temper was rising, and there remained but that way of avoiding a quarrel. "You may do as you like."

As I turned to close the door I caught sight of Isabella's face, and it wore a look that took me back to school holidays, when she and I wandered in the Hopton woods together, and were, I dare say, sentimental enough.