as kate charlock sat debating her position with anxiety, the door opened cautiously and a gaily dressed figure slipped into the room. the place seemed to be half-filled with billowing draperies and the air was heavy with subtle perfume. kate charlock turned in amazement upon the intruder.
"jessica!" she gasped. "what are you doing here?"
"you may well ask that," mrs. bromley-martin tittered. "but a little bird told me what was going on, and when i had a wire from lady strathmore this morning asking me to bring a mob over to tea this afternoon, i jumped at the opportunity. my word, what a time we have had all morning pulling your character to pieces! and just now, when belle langley bet me a dozen pairs of gloves i dare not come up and interview you, i closed like a shot. well, what have you to say for yourself?"
from head to foot kate charlock quivered with indignation. she was not blind to her own folly, but, then, she had so hedged herself in with self-pity that she did not regard herself as the average woman who has fallen away from grace. her case was quite different. but she merely smiled as she replied.
"i have nothing to say for myself," she responded. "i am content to leave my character in the hands of those who, like yourself, are acquainted with my unhappy domestic life. my husband chose to turn me out of house and home, and the punishment should be his more than mine. i know that socially my life is finished."
"terribly sad," mrs. bromley-martin laughed gaily. "i am not going to blame you. you are no worse than two-thirds of us, as you know very well. besides, we ought to be grateful to you for giving us something fresh to talk about. still, we shall miss our tall, white saint who was the connecting link between ourselves and absolute respectability. but i must not stay longer. one has to be careful, you know."
"yes, with a reputation like yours, one has to be," mrs. charlock said sweetly. "you may tell your friends that they need not trouble to waste their sympathy upon me. i am quite happy."
kate charlock's looks belied her words as mrs. bromley-martin flitted from the room like some great gauze butterfly. she had little enough to be happy about, she told herself; from the bottom of her heart she resented the patronage of her late visitor. at length she was roused from her reverie by the entrance of a servant with a telegram on a tray. it was addressed to rent, but kate opened it and glanced carelessly at the contents. her face did not move a muscle as she turned to the waiter and told him that there was no reply.
yet the few words were calculated to disturb. they were charged with meaning and called for immediate action. it was clear that the telegram came from arnold rent's mother.
"have just received your letter," the message ran. "am terribly surprised and shocked. on no account come here, as i am travelling to see you and will call to-morrow afternoon.
"helen rent."
kate crushed the flimsy paper into a ball and tossed it contemptuously into the fireplace. a moment later and she was reading the words again thoughtfully. doubtless some enemy had done this thing, and the words brought the reader no sort of comfort. kate charlock recognised courage and stern determination of purpose on the part of the sender of the message. her ready wit saw that it was necessary to strike a counter-blow without delay. it was evident that mrs. rent would adopt a firm attitude and could carry out her part far better in the royal solent hotel than under her own roof. she must start for devonshire instantly as the only possible way of saving the situation.
would arnold rent really return? it was getting on towards five o'clock and he had been gone for two hours. with a sigh of mingled impatience and surprise, she heard him coming along the corridor. he looked uncomfortable.
"upon my word, i am very sorry," he said, "but, as luck would have it, i have not been able to find a single friend. we must wait till i get money from my solicitors to-morrow morning. the delay is maddening!"
"meanwhile, what are we to do about this?" kate asked, as she held out the telegram. "this is from your mother."
"perhaps it is a good thing," rent said. "it will save us a journey, at any rate. you must not be annoyed with my mother. it is only natural that she should feel like that, till the case is explained to her. when she has seen us and heard everything she must be on our side. we can have dinner here and spend the evening together."
for a moment a gleam of anger came into kate charlock's eyes. she felt a wild desire to lay her hand upon rent, to box his ears, to do anything as an outlet for her rage at his crass stupidity. she schooled herself, though as she stood there her finger nails were cutting into the white flesh of her palms.
"you don't understand," she said. "your mother may forgive you, but she will never forgive me. if we meet here, there will be an end of everything. but under her own roof she will be bound by the dictates of hospitality to listen to what we have to say. i have been looking out the trains, and if we start within an hour we ought to reach our destination this evening."
"it shall be as you please," rent said tenderly. "i will go with you now, if you choose. there is one little thing you have forgotten—i have no money, and the railway people won't give credit——"
"oh, please don't raise these obstacles," kate charlock cried wearily. "i suppose you carry a watch?"
"oh, no, my dear, i never carry one. and if i did, what use would it be to us just now?"
in spite of herself a laugh broke from kate charlock's lips. would this man never improve? she crossed the room to her dressing-case and took out a diamond bangle.
"there!" she said. "you are going to have a new experience. i daresay you will have no difficulty in raising twenty pounds on that. you understand what i mean? i have nothing else to spare."
arnold rent inclined his head shamefully.
"oh, i am speaking of a pawnbroker. there is no need to flush and look uncomfortable, because the thing has to be done, whether you like it or not. and, besides, there is no disgrace in the transaction. the pawnbroker keeps open his shop to do business and is as anxious for your patronage as the butcher or the grocer. ask the first policeman you meet where you can find a respectable shop, and the rest will be easy."
"my dear girl," rent said, with a hardening of his lips, "i couldn't do it. we must wait."
kate charlock shot one glance at him. then she laid her head upon the table and burst into a flood of tears. the strategy was successful, for rent jumped in agitation to his feet and slipped the bangle into his pocket.
"for heaven's sake, don't cry," he said. "for your sake i will do anything. i had quite forgotten——"
his voice trailed away in an incoherent manner. he grabbed at his hat and left the room. the woman's eyes dried like magic. a smile trembled on her lips. but the anxious feeling did not leave her. her heart would not lighten till the express train pulled out from the station on its long journey to the west. the fight was coming and kate charlock did not mean to fail.
despite the extent of his infatuation, the pill was none the less a bitter one for rent to swallow. he was back again at the hotel presently, with the sovereigns jingling as he came in.
"i am glad that is all right," she said. "and now tell me why you behaved so badly just now? surely you could not have had business of so great importance as to take you away from me in a crisis like this! it is not as if you were engaged in trade. now tell me what it was. you can trust me."
an ingenious prevarication trembled upon rent's lips, when the waiter entered the room with a further telegram. rent glanced at it more or less carelessly, but, though he was conscious his colour changed, he managed to drop the telegram coolly in the fire.
"the business was not my own," he said, "therefore i cannot tell it you. but i am afraid you will have to be patient. that telegram came from the same quarter and admits of no delay. you won't mind very much if i go back to cowes now and return in the morning?"
kate charlock swallowed her passion. she saw that the time had come to act and struck accordingly.
"very well," she said. "in that case i will go back to my husband. it is not yet too late and i am not ashamed to meet him. it must be one thing or the other."
rent stifled what sounded like a groan.
"as you like," he said. "i shall not be the first fool beguiled by a woman!"
