CHAPTER LXIV

Persis awaited his departure impatiently, tapping her foot with

restlessness. She fell into reverie of indefinite duration. The bell

rang. She gave a start of joy. Crofts went by on his way to the door.

She checked him. "I'm expecting Captain Forbes." He got the name on the

third iteration. "If it is he, show him in here." He nodded and set out

again. She called after him, "If it is any one else I'm not at home."

She ran to a mirror, preened herself expectantly, and waited with a look

of joy. Crofts returned with a card. Persis took it, and asked, "You

told her I was out?"

Crofts was alarmed at once. "No, ma'am, I said you were at home."

"But I said I was out to every one except--"

Crofts was in despair at his blunder. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm afraid I'm

too old and deaf to--"

She relented and patted his hard shoulder-blade. "There, there! don't

worry, we'll get through the day somehow. Show Mrs. Neff in; but nobody

else except Captain Forbes."

Crofts smiled like a forgiven child, and returned with Mrs. Neff, who

bustled in crying, "Ah, my dear, such luck to find you at home."

"So sweet of you to come," said Persis. She was in no mood for Mrs.

Neff. She determined to be rid of her. She explained about the early

dinner and begged to be excused lest Willie murder her for being late.

Persis rang for Crofts, kissed Mrs. Neff a grateful good-by, and fled.

As Crofts opened the door to let Mrs. Neff out he let Winifred Mather

in. Crofts protested feebly that Persis was not at home, but Winifred

came in anyway.

Winifred was just returned from Paris, foiled in her campaign for the

late Ambassador, and determined to regain her control over Bob Fielding.

She had not seen Mrs. Neff, and she had much to say. Ignoring the

helpless Crofts, they drifted back to the drawing-room to swap scandals

from the opposite shores of the ocean. In this fascinating barter they

forgot the flight of time, forgot even the place they were in, for they

fell to discussing Persis and her affair with Forbes.

Winifred had heard of it even in Paris.

"But what does Willie think of it?" she asked; "if he can think?"

"In any intrigue, my dear," Mrs. Neff pronounced, "the last three

persons to learn what all the world knows are the husband and the two

intriguers."

"I saw Bob Fielding yesterday," said Winifred. "He told me about it on

the dock. He's furious at Persis. He said somebody ought to tell

Willie."

"He's right, my dear," said Mrs. Neff; "but who wants to do that sort of

job? It's like street-cleaning--very necessary and sanitary, but we

don't care to do it ourselves, and we don't admire the people who do.

Crooked things have a way of arranging themselves in this naughty world.

Leave Persis alone. Some day some little accident she couldn't

foresee--the mistake of a messenger-boy or a postman or somebody--and

bang! out comes the whole scandal. Persis is clever, but she's juggling

with dynamite."

It was only the last thirteen words that Persis overheard as she came

down to the drawing-room, never dreaming that Mrs. Neff had not gone or

that Winifred had come. Her slippers were soft, and her gown made no

frou-frou. The voices of the women, softened to a ghoulish stealth,

reached her with uncanny clearness.

She paused, struck to stone. Her heart pummeled her till her throat

throbbed visibly. She wanted to fall down and die. She wanted to run

from the house and from the town. Instead, she shook off every primitive

impulse, and, tossing her head in defiance of fate, marched into the

room with all the gracious majesty of a young queen going to her

coronation. Her costume completed the picture: she was robed for the

opera, and she wore her all-around crown of diamonds. She stared

incredulously at Winifred, and cried with ardent hospitality:

"Winifred, it's you! I didn't know you were in town!"

And Winifred, assured by her manner that she had not overheard, hastened

to embrace her, exclaiming: "Persis, darling! I haven't seen you for a

thousand years."

And they kissed each other.

"You see, I haven't gone yet," Mrs. Neff apologized. "Winifred and I

fell to talking--about you, of course."

"Say it to my face," said Persis.

Winifred lied angelically. "Cornelia was telling me how famously you and

Willie get along. You're so congenial."

Persis recognized the intended obloquy, and beamed in answer: "Willie is

a duck of a husband. Why don't you try marriage?"

This was so straight a lunge that Winifred slid in a sly _riposte_:

"Do you ever see that li'l snojer man of yours any more?"

"Li'l snojer man? Have I one?" said Persis, white-mouthed with fear at

the directness of the attack, and at the simultaneous tingle of the

door-bell. She tried to check Crofts, calling to him as he moved to the

door. But he did not hear.

Mrs. Neff was enjoying the rare treat of seeing Persis discomfited, ill

at ease. She joined the onset.

"She means Captain Forbes."

"Yes--that's the one," Winifred smiled. "See him often?"

"Oh, once in a long while," Persis confessed. "Why?"

"I just wondered. He used to be so devoted to you."

"Oh, that was ages ago," Persis laughed. And then Crofts came in with

his little salver. Persis regarded it with as much dread as if it bore

the head of John the Baptist instead of a tiny white card.

Crofts was so proud of remembering his instructions that he murmured,

with a senile smile: "You told me you were at home to him, ma'am."

Persis read the name, and it danced before her eyes, fantastically. In

the phrase of the prize-fighters, "they had her going." It was all so

simple and foolish, yet so naggingly annoying, that she was utterly

nonplussed. She stood a moment snapping the card in her fingers. Then

she had a mad inspiration. She smiled stupidly between Mrs. Neff and

Winifred and said:

"It's my--my lawyer. I--I'll go to the door and see him."

"But I asked him to come up!" Crofts protested in a doddering collapse,

and vanished like a ghost at cockcrow.

Forbes appeared at the door. He saw Persis, and there was no mistaking

the love in his eyes. Then he saw Winifred and Mrs. Neff, and there was

no mistaking his confusion, though he tried to put on a smile of delight

at the sight of them.

Mrs. Neff grinned with rapturous malice, and bewildered Forbes utterly

by asking three ironical questions and not staying for an answer:

"Changed your profession, Captain Forbes? A lawyer now? Specialty

divorces?"

Then she nodded to Winifred, and they made their way out, ignoring

Persis' outstretched hand.