Nicholas Kenyon has promised himself that, one of these days, when
abject poverty forces him to work, he will write a whole book about
Peter and Baby Lennox, and call it "Another Temptation of St. Anthony."
Not only did Kenyon watch this, to him, rather extraordinary incident,
with keen interest, but so also did the members of his father's
house-party, who came to regard Peter as a kind of freak. They all
knew,--because they were all psychologists,--that Mrs. Lennox was badly
smitten, as they put it, on this young American. They all knew,--because
one of the women made it her business to spy,--that their temporary
hostess was going through all the tricks of her trade to seduce this
unconscious boy.
The incident provided Lord Shropshire and his friends with endless
amusement, and bets were made as to how long Peter would hold out. Every
morning something new was reported to them by the lady who had appointed
herself to watch. One day it was that Baby had taken Peter to see her
cottage after dinner and had had a little fainting fit in her bedroom
while showing him the view from the window. Another that she had twisted
her ankle on the eighth hole and had been obliged to ask to be carried
back to the house. There was, however, no evidence, not even of a
circumstantial nature, to prove that Baby had succeeded. It was
presently agreed that either Peter was a fool or an angel.
There was one incident, however, which escaped unnoticed,--one of which
even Kenyon knew nothing. It took place three nights before the party
broke up.
After a gorgeous day of hard exercise and splendid fresh air, an hour at
the piano after dinner and his usual talk to Baby under the moon, Peter
went up to bed at eleven o'clock. He was very sleepy and meant to be up
earlier than ever in the morning. He didn't say good-night to Kenyon or
his satirical father. They were, like the others, very seriously at work
making what money they could. There had been a fairly large dinner-party
drawn from the surrounding houses, and there were eight bridge tables
occupied in the large drawing-room. He left Mrs. Lennox in the hall
looking more delicious than ever and went up to his room to smoke a
final pipe and look over an illustrated paper before turning in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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