The Intrusions of Peggy. Anthony Hope

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      'We might trot Mrs. Trevalla through first, in procession, you know,' suggested Tommy. 'It's awfully good of you to come. I hardly dared ask you,' he added to Trix.

      'I was just as afraid, but Miss Ryle encouraged me. I met her two or three nights ago at Mrs. Bonfill's.'

      They went in to supper. Trix was placed between Tommy and Airey Newton, Peggy was at the other end, supported by Childwick and Arty Kane. The rest disposed themselves, if not according to taste, yet with apparent harmony; there was, however, a momentary hesitation about sitting by Mrs. John. 'Mrs. John means just one glass more champagne than is good for one,' Childwick had once said, and the remark was felt to be just.

      'No, politicians are essentially concerned with the things that perish,' resumed Miles Childwick; he addressed Peggy—Mrs. John was on his other side.

      'Everything perishes,' observed Arty Kane, putting down his empty soup-cup with a refreshed and cheerful air.

      'Do learn the use of language. I said "essentially concerned." Now we are essentially concerned with——'

      Trix Trevalla heard the conversation in fragments. She did not observe that Peggy took much part in it, but every now and then she laughed in a rich gurgle, as though things and people in general were very amusing. Whenever she did this, all the young men looked at her and smiled, or themselves laughed too, and Peggy laughed more and, perhaps, blushed a little. Trix turned to Tommy and whispered, 'I like her.'

      'Rather!' said Tommy. 'Here, waiter, bring some ice.'

      Most of the conversation was far less formidable than Miles Childwick's. It was for the most part frank and very keen discussion of a number of things and persons entirely, or almost entirely, unfamiliar to Trix Trevalla. On the other hand, not one of the problems with which she, as a citizen and as a woman, had been so occupied was mentioned, and the people who filled her sky did not seem to have risen above the horizon here. Somebody did mention Russia once, and Horace Harnack expressed a desire to have 'a slap' at that great nation; but politics were evidently an alien plant, and soon died out of the conversation. The last play or the last novel, the most recent success on the stage, the newest paradox of criticism, were the topics when gossip was ousted for a few moments from its habitual and evidently welcome sway. People's gossip, however, shows their tastes and habits better than anything else, and in this case Trix was not too dull to learn from it; it reproduced another atmosphere and told her that there was another world than hers. She turned suddenly to Airey Newton.

      'We talk of living in London, but it's a most inadequate description. There must be ten Londons to live in!'

      'Quite—without counting the slums.'

      'We ought to say London A, or London B, or London C. Social districts, like the postal ones; only far more of them. I suppose some people can live in more than one?'

      'Yes, a few; and a good many people pay visits.'

      'Are you Bohemian?' she asked, indicating the company with a little movement of her hand.

      'Look at them!' he answered. 'They are smart and spotless. I'm the only one who looks the part in the least. And, behold, I am frugal, temperate, a hard worker, and a scientific man!'

      'There are believed to be Bohemians still in Kensington and Chelsea,' observed Tommy Trent. 'They will think anything you please, but they won't dine out without their husbands.'

      'If that's the criterion, we can manage it nearer than Chelsea,' said Trix. 'This side of Park Lane, I think.'

      'You've got to have the thinking too, though,' smiled Airey.

      Miles Childwick had apparently been listening; he raised his voice a little and remarked: 'The divorce between the theoretical bases of immorality——'

      'Falsely so called,' murmured Hanson Smith.

      'And its practical development is one of the most——'

      It was no use; Peggy gurgled helplessly, and hid her face in her napkin. Childwick scowled for an instant, then leant back in his chair, smiling pathetically.

      'She is the living negation of serious thought,' he complained, regarding her affectionately.

      Peggy, emerging, darted him a glance as she returned to her chicken.

      'When I published "Myra Lacrimans"——' began Arty Kane.

      In an instant everybody was silent. They leant forward towards him with a grave and eager attention, signing to one another to keep still. Tommy whispered: 'Don't move for a moment, waiter!'

      'Oh, confound you all!' exclaimed poor Arty Kane, as he joined in the general outburst of laughter.

      Trix found herself swelling it light-heartedly.

      'We've found by experience that that's the only way to stop him,' Tommy explained, as with a gesture he released the grinning waiter. 'He'll talk about "Myra" through any conversation, but absolute silence makes him shy. Peggy found it out. It's most valuable. Isn't it, Mrs. John?'

      'Most valuable,' agreed Mrs. John. She had made no other contribution to the conversation for some time.

      'All the same,' Childwick resumed, in a more conversational tone, but with unabated perseverance, 'what I was going to say is true. In nine cases out of ten the people who are——' He paused a moment.

      'Irregular,' suggested Manson Smith.

      'Thank you, Manson. The people who are irregular think they ought to be regular, and the people who are regular have established their right to be irregular. There's a reason for it, of course——'

      'It seems rather more interesting without one,' remarked Elfreda Flood.

      'No reason, I think?' asked Horace Harnack, gathering the suffrages of the table.

      'Certainly not,' agreed the table as a whole.

      'To give reasons is a slur on our intellects and a waste of our time,' pronounced Manson Smith.

      'It's such a terribly long while since I heard anybody talk nonsense on purpose,' Trix said to Airey, with a sigh of enjoyment.

      'They do it all the time; and, yes, it's rather refreshing.'

      'Does Mr. Childwick mind?'

      'Mind?' interposed Tommy. 'Gracious, no! He's playing the game too; he knows all about it. He won't let on that he does, of course, but he does all the same.'

      'The reason is,' said Childwick, speaking with lightning speed, 'that the intellect merely disestablishes morality, while the emotions disregard it. Thank you for having heard me with such patience, ladies and gentlemen.' He finished his champagne with a triumphant air.

      'You beat us that time,' said Peggy, with a smile of congratulation.

      Elfreda Flood addressed Harnack, apparently resuming an interrupted conversation.

      'If I wear green I look horrid, and if she wears blue she looks horrid, and if we don't wear either green or blue, the scene looks horrid. I'm sure I СКАЧАТЬ