England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Lawyers -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
It was Bernadette Lisle; she sat at a little table with Oliver Wyse.
They had finished eating. Bernadette was putting on her gloves. Her eyes
were fixed on Oliver's face, her lips were parted. The scene of the Café
de Paris reproduced itself--and perhaps the topic. She had not seen
Arthur when he came in, nor he her. She did not see him now. She
listened to Sir Oliver.
"Your cousin! That! Introduce me--there may yet be time!" said the
indomitable Joe.
"Oh, shut up!" groaned Arthur, half-flattered however, though
half-peevish.
"She's very beautiful." Marie's eyes could not leave Bernadette. "And
so--so--well, she looks like something very very precious in china."
Arthur looked round again; he could not help it. "Yes, that is rather
it, Marie."
"Look--look at her hat, Marie!" came from Amabel in awed accents. Indeed
the visit to the hat-shop in Paris had not been without its fruit.
"Now is it fair--is it reasonable--for a fellow to have a cousin like
that? He might have a Queen like that, or a Dream like that, and I
shouldn't care. But a cousin! He knows the Vision! He's talked to it!
Heavens, he's probably lunched with it himself! And he kept it all dark
from us--oh, so dark!"
"Is it Mr. Lisle with her?" asked Amabel, quite innocently.
Arthur smiled. "No, I don't think you'd find Godfrey lunching here.
That's a man named Wyse. I've met him at their house."
"He's good-looking too," Amabel decided after a further survey.
A waiter brought Oliver Wyse his bill. When he turned to pay it,
Bernadette rose. The spell which had held her attention so closely was
broken. She looked round the room. Suddenly a bright smile came on her
lips, she spoke a hurried word to her companion, and came straight
across the room towards Arthur's table. She had recognised the back of
his head.
"She's coming here!" whispered Amabel breathlessly.
Arthur turned round quickly, a bright gleam in his eyes. He rose from
his chair; the next moment she was beside him, looking so joyful, so
altogether happy.
"Oh, Arthur dear, I am glad!" She did not offer to shake hands; she laid
her little hand on his coat-sleeve as she greeted him. "Did you see
me--with Sir Oliver?" But she did not wait for an answer. "Do let me sit
down with you for a minute. And mayn't I know your friends?" A waiter
hurried up with a chair, and Bernadette sat down by Arthur. "Why, what
fun this is! Cousin Arthur, I must have another ice." The gloves began
to come off again, while Arthur made the necessary introductions.
"Oh, but I know you all quite well!" exclaimed Bernadette. "You're old
friends of mine, though you may not know it."
Oliver Wyse, his bill paid, followed her with a leisurely step. He
greeted Arthur cordially and included the rest of the table in a bow. "I
gather you intend to stay a bit," he said to Bernadette, smiling. "I've
got an appointment, so if you'll excuse me----?"
"Oh yes, Arthur will look after me." She gave him her hand. "Thanks for
your lunch, Sir Oliver."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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