England -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Mothers and daughters -- Fiction; Paris (France) -- Fiction; Women -- Fiction
Miss Ingate's lower lip dropped at the corners.
"You've had a tiff."
"Winnie, we haven't."
"Did you go to all his concerts?"
"All. I heard all his practising, and I sat in the stalls at all his
concerts. Quite contrary to my principles, of course. But, Winnie, it's
very queer, I _wanted_ to do it. So naturally I did it. We've never been
apart--until now."
"And it's not exaggerated, what you've written me about his success?"
"Not a bit. I've been most careful not to exaggerate. In fact, I've tried
to be gloomy. No use, however! It was a triumph.... And how's all this
business?" Audrey demanded, in a new key, indicating an orange-tinted
newspaper bill that was being flaunted in front of her.
"Oh! I believe it's dreadful. Of course, you know Rosamund's in prison. But
they'll have to let her out soon. Jane Foley--she still calls herself
Foley--hasn't been caught. And that's funny. I doubled my subscription. We
had to, you see. But that's all I've done. They don't have processions and
things now, and barrel organs are _quite_ out of fashion. What with that,
and my rheumatism!... I used to think I should live to vote myself. I feel
I shan't now. So I've gone back into water-colours. They're very soothing,
if you let the paper dry after each wash and don't take them seriously....
Now, I'm a very common-sense woman, Audrey, as you must have noticed, and
I'm not subject to fancies. Will you just look at the girl on the left hand
in this window here, and tell me whether I'm dreaming or not?"
Miss Ingate indicated the shop window which had arrested her. The
establishment was that of a hair specialist, and the window was mainly
occupied by two girls who sat in arm-chairs with their backs to the glass,
and all their magnificent hair spread out at length over the backs of the
chairs for the inspection of the public; the implication being that the
magnificent hair was due to the specific of the hair specialist. Passers-by
continually stopped to gaze at the spectacle, but they never stopped long,
because the spectacle was monotonous.
"Well, what about her?" said Audrey, staring.
"Isn't it Lady Southminster?"
"Good heavens!" Audrey's mind went back to the Channel packet and the rain
squall and the scenes on the Paris train. "So it is! Whatever can have
happened to her? Let's go in."
And in they went, Audrey leading, and demanding at once a bottle of the
specific; Audrey had scarcely spoken when the left-hand girl in the window,
who, of course, from her vantage had a full view of the shop, screamed
lightly and jumped down from the window.
"Don't give me away!" she whispered appealingly in Audrey's ear. The next
moment, not heeding the excitement of the shop manager, she had drawn
Audrey and Miss Ingate through another door which led into the
entrance-hall of the Majestic Hotel. The shop was thus contrived to catch
two publics at once.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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