Three taxis were waiting. One for the bride and bridegroom. One, already
piled with luggage, for Myra who after being fervently kissed in the
vestry by Olivia, had said by way of congratulation:
“Well, dearie, it’s better than being married in a Registry Office,” and
had gone forth unemotionally to see that the trunks were still there.
And one for Olifant and Janet. They drove to the station, to the train
which was to take them on their way to the home which in their
romanticism they had never troubled to see.
“I’m sure it’s all right,” said Janet, who had been responsible for
their taking “Quien Sabe.” “Father and I’ll be at The Point in a
fortnight. If you don’t want to see us, tie a white satin bow on the
gate and we won’t mind a bit.”
For General Philimore was the happy owner of one of the little
hermitages on The Point, and like a foolish old soldier lived there in
holiday times, instead of letting it for the few summer weeks at the
yearly rental of his London flat; so that Janet assumed the airs of an
authority on The Point, and wrote stern uncompromising business letters
to agents threatening them with the displeasure of the daughter of a
Major-General, if a “Quien Sabe” swept, garnished, and perfectly
appointed, with a charwoman, ditto, in attendance, did not receive the
bridal pair.
“It’s not a palace, Mr. Triona,” she said.
“What has it to do with me?” he answered. “A dream nest in a cliff for
this bird wife of mine is all I ask for.”
Olivia’s eyes smiled on him. Why was he so different from the rest of
men—even from so fine a type as Blaise Olifant? She appraised them
swiftly. The soldier had not yet been sunk into the scholar. He stood
erect, clean built, wearing his perfectly fitting grey suit like
uniform, his armless sleeve pinned across his chest, his lip still
bearing the smart little military moustache, his soft grey hat at ever
so slightly a swaggering angle on his neatly cropped head. A
distinguished figure, to which his long straight nose added a curious
note of distinction and individuality. But all that he was you saw in a
glance: the gentleman, the soldier, the man of intellect. On the other
hand, there stood the marvellous man that was her husband, hiding behind
the drawn boyish face God knew what memories of pain heroically
conquered and God knew what visions of genius. Although he had gone to a
good tailor for his blue serge suit—she had accompanied him—he had the
air of wearing clothes as a concession of convention. The lithe frame
beneath seemed to be impatient of their restraint. They fitted in an
easy sort of way, but were dominated by his nervous eager personality.
One flash of a smile illuminating eyes and thin face, one flashing
gesture of hand or arm, and for ought any one knew or cared, he might be
dressed in chain armour or dungaree.
The little speech pleased her. She slipped her hand through the crook of
his arm in the pride of possession.