Her Ladyship's Income

Chapter I

Lord George Bohun having sent his name up to Lady Billingdun, walked into the drawing-room of her little house in Chester Street with the air of an habitue. " Dear me ! " he thought, as he patted his hair and smoothed his tie, gazing the while absently at himself in the Venetian mirror over the fireplace, " to think that two years ago, when I used to wait in this same room, the beating of my heart ran a race with the ticking of the clock. Gad ! / was in love with her then. Her hand on the door handle set my pulses throbbing, and left me tongue-tied when she appeared and here I am calmly wondering how many other fellows have spent a couple of seasons worshipping at the same shrine, and how many others will follow when — exactly, when " He heaved a long sigh that for a second blurred his image in the mirror.

" What, I wonder, has happened to me, that I should stand here and realize that what B I thought such delightful elegance is absolutely only a fabulous talent for spending money ; that her fascinating high spirits are only the energy with which she plans her own amusements." A gentle jingle aroused him. That too — how well he knew it : the tinkling of the trinkets on her wrist ; the little golden latchkeys, and desk keys, and odds and ends for luck, that not so ver}* long ago had only added to her originality, but now . He shrugged his shoulders, inhaled approvingly the faint odour of violets that heralded the lady's approach, and assumed an unconscious attitude on the hearth-rug. " Prompt, as usual, Lord George," she said, smiling, her fingers still clasping the door handle. " Am I an intruder, Lady Jingle?

" he said, lightly, taking the cue. The door well closed, he took her two hands in his and kissed her. Kisses wax and wane like moons. These were in their last quarter. " George, the de Gyffordes have not asked me to their last ball I " " Mary, you have scarcely brought me out to tell me that, at this unearthly hour. It's just striking ten ; you aren't usually up before eleven ! What's the matter, dear ? " " The Norths, you know, went to the Drawing-room and never told me— didn't even ask me to go and see their frocks." "Ages ago! — they asked me 1 can tell you all about it." " Did they ? I hate Drawing-room teas." " Then why be angry about it — an oversight probably — they are much too proper to be rude intentionally." " Is it an oversight that the Duca d'Aspoli gave his annual birthday dinner at the Amphitryon, and never asked me ?

Has that ever happened before ? It ap pears his sister did the honours. Is it an oversight — George, don't pull up your eyebrows like that, you know it fidgets me — that the Henry Malmaisons give dinners upon dinners and don't even take the trouble to hide the fact ? " "You can't be hurt with them — last year they were really aggressive in their attentions." "Ah ! you see — that was last year, this is this year." " Quite so ! — with an extensive acquaintance they can't go on perpetually asking the same people." " Is it possible that you don't understand ? " asked Lady Billingdun, impatiently, carefully selecting a chair in the darkest corner of the room. It was only excess of caution ; she had no need to fear the light, for she was strikingly handsome. Many women are that ; but her variety of expression was a marvellous charm, and her smile a positive illumination.

To Lady Billingdun's smile, as well known a characteristic as " le pied de Madame," she owed her popularity. It made even her women friends discredit her forty-three b — years, gave her frivolity a pathetic touch that softened it into " her cheery manner," and transformed her finely-chiselled features in a flash, from Madonna into rogue. Then, too, her social record was unimpeachable. "Frankly, I do not understand," answered Lord George, " you are annoyed, excited — what about ? — tell me, dear ; do, please. You have something up your sleeve yet, out with it." With which he bent over her and tried the effect of one more kiss. " Don't, dear," continued she, unmollified. " You really are very thick-skinned. Does it not strike you that there is a certain persistent logic in all this? " She rose, and going over to the mantel-shelf and leaning her elbow upon it, still with her back to the light, she said with deliberation, " I am being cut."

" Nonsense, Mary." " There's no nonsense about it, I am being cut and it's your fault." The accusation shot him out of his arm-chair. " Good heavens ! how can you say that to me. I have been exaggeratedly careful. In the whole course of our friendship " — a harsh laugh from Lady Billingdun interrupted him as she said, " there's no body here now— call things by their right name " — "of our friendship, Mary, / have never done a single im prudent thing. Your reproach is absolutely unjust." " I am worried, forgive me. You have been more than good. That does not alter the facts of the case. You must have been imprudent because I never forget that the world is looking at me. It is beginning to suspect me." Her ladyship put her hand on her hip with abandon and waited quietly for an answer. Re ceiving none, she added, " we must save me."

George took a turn up and down the little room and coming up close to her said, " Of course — how ? " " One of us must marry and I have determined that it must be you." " You must be mad, Mary. The fact is, if you were quite honest, you'd tell me frankly that you are tired of me. You are. I feel it. All this about people slighting you is a plant. My dear girl, you have had enough of me, and you are too civil to show me the door." The memory of hours of happiness, hours of bright intercourse unsuspected by their world, hours stolen by Mary from her duties to society, chased each other in his brain like magic lantern slides. This woman who had so loved him was now calmly and quietly bidding him go. Egotism rebelled. He saw empty hours before him. He felt that she was selfish in asking him to break off" in a moment the fond habit of months.

He forgot how, only a few minutes since, he had made a deliberate analysis of her attractions and had been more or less ready to end their " friendship." He forgot how often quite lately he had imagined that he had seen wrinkles where once he had kissed a dainty dimple. He forgot how sensitive he had been to the fact that his other women friends had left off gushing over her ; he only remembered that this woman was using every artifice to be rid of him. For she was beautiful, charming — she was not to be lost. " Am I not always frank with you ? " she asked. " Would I deceive you in anything ? You know all about me and my thoughts. Ah ! George, you know you do." She purred this last remark in a reproachful voice that sounded eighteen. She slushed as he moved for ward, and nimbly eluding his outstretched arm, ran to the window, pulled up the blind, and stood in the full light of day.

It was the first time that morning or indeed for man}' mornings. " Have I ever," she cried, " concealed my age from you, though it was a bitter pill to confess you seven years my junior ? " Though he knew she had never alluded to her age before, he was quick to feel the effect of her sudden action. The light of day was death to sentiment : and he looked at her drooping head against the window casing, as one looks at a tree in autumn ; it was beautiful but chilling. " Very well," he said, gravely, " I accept my conge." "Ah ! that is not enough, George ; you must accept it my way. You must marry." " Marry ?— absurd 1 " " Not at all absurd — you must marry, I tell you." " Why ? " he asked, angrily. " Please don't talk like that." " It's the only way to stop people's tongues about us." " Where's the bride ; what's as much to the point, where's the money ?

" " Oh ! I have the bride." " Oh ! have you ? Thanks so much, and how about the money? — the money the duke allows me won't go far." Lady Billingdun shrugged her shoulders in frank concurrence with this proposition. " I have used," continued George, " three or four times that, any time these last ten years or am I to marry on the tip that Aunt Emma gives me occasionally ? " " Aunt Emma, let me remind you, is now wedded to good works, so her occasional hundreds will scarcely — " Mary, with a pious grimace left the end of her sentence to her hearer's imagination. " Precisely ! " "You are to marry - for,' not 'on,' my dear boy. I will provide you with the bride and the money too 1 " " Ah ! you don't know me. Nothing will induce me to marry a woman I don't care about immensely. Do not look sceptical.

If I were not afraid you'd run me as a lion, and invite a dinner-party round me, I should say I won't marry where I don't love." " Penniless, heavily in debt as you are, you would scarcely make a good match for any of our own girls." " Quite so ! We must think of something else." " Nothing of the sort ! I have the very thing here for you under my hand." " Who is it ? " asked Lord George, thinking he was simply obeying a humorous whim of hers, in thus seriously discussing the impossible. " Harriet." " What ! " he shouted, " even you can go a little too far— Harriet Todd ? " " Harriet Hatt-Todd, if you please ; her father duly hyphened her when a grateful country made him a knight." " Upon my word your courage is admirable. Do you know that you are proposing to me to marry your ward, — or what is one to call her, your adopted daughter ?

" " To be accurate, neither — let us say my Randt mine. Her father gives me two thousand a year in return for my care of her." A hasty word of contempt proved to Lady Billingdun that she had proposed the matter too abruptly, so slowly drawing a lovely white hand across her eyes she raised them anxiously to his, and wisely held her tongue. " Would you believe, Mary, that at first I thought you were joking ! I can easily understand your asking me to come here in order to tell me that you are bored with me. I never was brilliant. I beg you to believe that, had I noticed that you were wearying of my fondness I should have known what to do, but you have not spoken to me candidly, you have trumped up a few silly facts about people cutting you — why not frankly have said, ' look here, George, I am tired of you.

Take yourself off — this phase comes sooner or later, here it is, go.' I should feel sore and hurt, of course, but out of regard for you, I'd obey. But upon my soul, when you want to marry me off the moment you have done with me to a girl that is placed in your care, it's indelicate, it's more than — " " How dare you talk tome of indelicacy? Isn't it the very, only thing to do ? Isn't it humiliating enough to know that one's secret is no longer one's own ? Isn't it your duty to watch over my good name ? Are you going to allow everyone to throw stones at me without attempting to protect me ? Here is a girl, living with me, under my supervision, to whom I am a sort of second mother — what could publish my innocence more certainly than your marriage to her, straight as you are known to be, and man of honour ?

Indelicacy ! the word is an insult. Oh 1 how sick I am that I ever listened to you. How am I to live with everybody pointing at me ? " Lady Billingdun having thundered all this in indig nant contralto tones, burst into a rage of tears. It was about the best thing she had done so far. Lord George, sobered into contrition by her rapid attack and final breakdown, tried ineffectually to take her hands from her streaming eyes ; and in doing so, felt a choky sensation in his own throat. He had wounded her deeply. Through him her reputation had suffered, it was for him to make amends. Harsh words she had wrathfully hurled at him, but they certainly made him understand what their association might bring her. Men seldom think of these things until the time comes for them to pay their share. It did not strike him that when they had first met, she was quite old enough to take care of herself, and must have known, when she listened to his avowals of devotion unutterable, precisely what she was doing.

He only realized that they had been exquisitely happy together, and that she was lying on the sofa, broken in spirit and crushed at the loss of her good name and position. " My dearest," he said, gently, "I will do my utmost, will even, if you wish it, try and obey you. Let us wait though, why hurry ? A day or two can make no difference and time may bring us counsel. Come, dear, dry your eyes." The answer to this was another tear allowed to course gently down her cheeks. She had the gift of crying prettily ; she looked the Madonna then. " No— you won't ? " Anxious to conciliate her, he added, " do dry them, dear. I will come some time and look at the fate you inflict — will that convince you of my overpowering gratitude ? " Still seeing no allevia tion of gloom, "you are going to the opera to-night.

Lady Talleboys told me she had sent you her box. Keep me a seat ; you shall' not say I am unworthy of you any more, and you shall take this girl with you. If I am not too unhinged I will seriously look at her, I promise you." A sob escaped the lady, and wiping her eyes she still continued a feeble and hopeless weeping. " I must leave you now, Mary ; before I go, let me see you smile again. Don't send me away like this. Promise me you won't cry when I am not with you. I can't bear to think of you sad." A watery smile gave the required assurance. " And now," he said, " I must leave you." He took her two hands and kissed them. She dis engaged one and twisting a small gold key from her bracelet, gave it to him in absolute silence. " Is it all over, then, Mary ? " She made no answer but moved to the bell to ring for the servant, that her visitor might be shown out with due formality.

Besides she wished to escape his re proachful glance as he murmured gravely — " Remember, you have sent me away." Tears again threatened. " It is ' Carmen ' to-night. I expect you for certain," she replied. " A bientot, then, Lady Billingdun," he called out, as he followed the servant. Lady Billingdun was alone. Hidden behind the curtain, she watched Lord George out of sight, the tears streaming down her face. When she could no longer see him, she mastered her feelings with an effort, pulled down the blind to its more usual and discreet level, and took from her pocket, and read again the following letter : " Dear Lady Billingdun, "What I have always liked about you is that you speak straight from the shoulder, and that there's no nonsense about you ; you say the same about me. So I come at once to the point.

It is high time for Harriet to be settled. You have done a great deal for her, and I've tried to show I appreciate it. John Todd has not been the man to count the cost where his children's interests are concerned and he is not going to begin now. Do you think you could arrange a marriage for her ? You have fitted her for any place in this world ; and I look high for her. You know what I mean by a suitable marriage as well as if I wrote ten pages about it — some nobleman or other, whose family is as good as Harriet's fortune will be large. My daughter will be a great heiress. I shall ask you to accept ten thousand pounds on the day of the wedding : please advise me at your early convenience. You have probably seen in the papers something about my new alms-houses. They are the largest in the kingdom — private ones, I mean, and the opening day will be an event : it is in July and Prince A. is coming down for it.

I didn't arrange that without some trouble, I can tell you. Harriet must come down for that ; the Mayoress joins me in hoping you will come with her ; I take it you know the Prince well." " It had to come," she murmured. " George was getting bored — and life is so expensive." Then she rang for her maid and sent word to Harriet that she was ready to go out with her. As for Lord George, he spent the remainder of the day in cogitating over the remarkable proposition that had been made to him ; but even by dinner time he had got no farther in thought than Covent Garden. He had promised to be there, and he would go : as for to morrow, to-morrow would decide for itself. He was the first to arrive at the opera house. He was not sorry for the respite. He tried to listen to music. The reckless coquelterie with which the prima donna sang helped him to forget for the moment Lady Billingdun's unreasonable conduct.

Here at last, he thought, was the real Spanish cigarette girl. This was Carmen, and not the usual high-heeled barmaid of the foreign railway station. It annoyed him when his cousin's voice broke in upon him. He had not noticed the latter's entrance. The Honourable Charles Cranleigh was the second son of the Earl of Brumpton. Having failed in getting into the Army, he felt that his duty to Society was discharged, and that henceforward he could live for himself. He was always good-natured, even at breakfast ; was always primed with the latest gossip, and was always faithful to his last divinity. " What a splendid house ! " he said, cheerily. Lord George lazily levelled his glass from box to box and answered : " Yes, in numbers ; but the beauty of Covent Garden is the beauty of maturity." " Shouldn't have thought that was a fault in your eyes, old chap — by the by, the charming Mary is late, eh ?

" The other ignored this remark, and concealed his annoyance. " Fatal youth," he continued the theme, " does not get much of a look in here — not allowed to indulge in music, I suppose." "Speaking of angels, here she is," said Cranleigh, turning. It was Harriet, however, and not Lady Billingdun who first entered the box. Tall and slender, the dainty vapoury white she was dressed in, accentuated her youthful freshness. But the older lady, who followed, wore a dark velvet gown, quite unseasonable on a hot night. It had been chosen as a discreet warning that this evening she was nothing but a chaperone. As the ladies took their seats, Lady Billingdun sig nalled to Cranleigh to sit beside her. All traces of the morning's agitation had vanished, and left her a composed but saddened woman. The rogue had been packed away in cotton wool for another occasion, the Madonna had come out alone.

This was not the occasion on which to dazzle with flashes of variety, and Lord George, as he looked enquiringly at her, could only perceive a chastened mien and a withered happiness which she seemed to say could not be revived, until and unless she was saved. Not the brilliancy of the smartest house of the season, not the nods of her friends, not even the smile she received from a Royal Personage in an opposite box, could arouse her from her sorrow. She was a weeping willow. The only time her features relaxed, was when the girl next to her, put a hand in hers ; and then it was a spasmodic attempt. She was lively for one short second as she listened to Harriet saying to the two men, " Lady Jingle is out of tune to-night — she is so depressed ; I have been talking hard and have failed to rouse her."

" We shan't succeed, then — what is it, Lady Billing dun ? " asked Cranleigh. "Nothing at all, I am worried a little— one can't always be the same— I am sorry I am so dull." "You can never be dull." " Charlie, they are singing," broke in his cousin. "I don't mind, old chap, it doesn't disturb me." Lord George looked at Harriet. She was certainly the prettiest girl there. Her voice was incisive but sweet — he had noticed that before — and she spoke the cynical jargon of the world with a volubility and emphasis born of youthful innocence. He could not help wondering what sort of people hers were. Some how, he had always taken for granted her presence in Chester Street. He was surprised now that in their frequent meetings he had noticed her so little ; but his interest in the chaperone would account for this.

He asked her if her father was in town. " Oh 1 no," she answered, "father can't come to London much this year, he is Mayor of Bissingham, you see." Cranleigh, catching a word, cried out, " Wears a big gold chain and a red robe with fur on it." The girl's clearly pencilled eyebrows contracted im patiently as she answered, " Yes, and subscribes to things, and opens bazaars, and unveils statues, and gives dinners to dull people." " Who is the old chap, Miss Hatt-Todd ? " " My father." " Oh ! I beg your pardon, I forgot for the minute." " Did you ? 1 never do." "Wouldn't you like to be down there sharing in the municipal glories and riding in the state carriage ? Rather fun, don't you think ? " " Is he laughing at me, Lord George ? " and then she added, gravely, with a shiver, " I wish I had never come to London.

It's wicked to transplant people, isn't it?" Lord George felt sorry for this little thing, who was looking up at him. He noted and approved the contra diction between her naive black eyes, and the curve of the chin, which had the firm sweep of an uplifted swan's wing — the type so finely illustrated by Linley Sam bourne. " You must not speak like that," he said, " you will hurt Lady Jingle if she hears it. She thinks you as happy as possible." " So I am, sometimes ; only in a large crowd like this I feel — well— I feel a little out of it." " Nonsense ! nonsense ! " He c hided her as one would a spoiled child. He was interested. She was flattered, and rambled on, "You know 1 am right," she said, "all these people only just put up with me. They don't like me the least little bit. They don't care how they speak of people they call ' out of their set.' They ask me to all their parties, and stick pins into me all the time.

You heard Nellie Camperdowne, the other day, say that Hurling ham is quite impossible now, one never meets anybody c there, and it is so crowded. They are people like me, I suppose." "That's only a silly sort of a way women have of talking to one another." " I wish I were ' smart ' enough to have real bad manners," she said, vehemently. They all laughed at this, and the conversation for the next few minutes became general. Lord George was amused and pleased. He began to think that this little thing was not at all boring. As soon as it might be done, Lady Billingdun again drew Cranleigh into a conversational duet. It was a new experience for her thus to be making the running for another ; but for all that, she manœuvred as skilfully as the tenderest mother who has a daughter to place in the marital mar ket.

It would not be her fault if Lord George did not marry Harriet. " Do you see that woman over there, the fifth from the door, with the diamond and turquoise necklace ? ' said Harriet, turning. " Yes," said Lord George, looking through his glass, " I do — Mrs. Jimmie Alledaye." " Yes. Doesn't she look vexingly bright ? " He laughed his answer. " Well ! she was a dear, once, until she was bitten with a desire to be in the swim. Then she swallowed snubs and rudeness, always smiling and saying thank you — it was utterly useless. She did everything for everybody, and nobody cared a bit. Well ! then she had a stroke of luck. She met Prince Gleichenstein — now she goes everywhere. She's talked about in every paper, and treats the enclosure at Ascot, as though it was her own garden-party. It is too foolish.

One gets so tired of that perpetual row of wholesome teeth that are always beaming upon everybody." " My dear child, that's a valiant trick she got into when her heart was boiling with rage, probably. She had the pluck to carry out her intentions and," (he took up the glasses again as he said this) '* she is rewarded — her box is crowded." " But how ludicrous, just think of the years she ha3 wasted getting from Bayswater to Belgravia. Nobody laughs at her, now." "Why trouble your little head about her ? " "Because," Harriet answered, "she reminds me of myself. Her position is about as false as my own." " What is this morbid little girl of mine talking about, Lord George ? " asked Lady Billingdun, who was still wrapped in gloom. " I seem to have affected the whole lot of you. Get me my cloak.

I won't wait to see poor Carmen stabbed." Mr. Cranleigh asked them to come and have some supper at the Amphitryon ; but this invitation Lady Billingdun shudderingly declined, as she left the box, followed by the rest of the party. c — The united efforts of the two men finally found her ladyship's brougham ; and, having seen Harriet and her safely started for home, they hailed a cab. " Are you coming to the club, Charlie ? " said Lord George. " Yes, I am ; but I have to go to the Le Marchants for a few minutes afterwards. Their functions are always so dull. I say, I put my foot in it, didn't I, about the Mayor ? " " Rather 1 — what did the old man make his money in?" " Stays," answered Charlie, laughing drily. " Good gracious ! is he very rich ? " " Immense fortune, I believe — sixty or eighty thou a year."

" Have you got a light ? — thanks." " She is not a bad little girl for that sort of thing," said Cranleigh. " She is a very nice little girl for that sort of thing, — by the by, I don't quite know what that sort of thing means." " Now look here, old man, don't be metaphysical or analytical at this time of night. Lady Jingle has done wonders with her — she is a capital imitation of the real thing — you'd never suspect the stays, that's what I mean." " Stays or no stays, she's a very nice little girl." Cranleigh laughed, and he was surprised, when the cab pulled up at the "Turf," to find that his cousin was not coming out. " Not coming in after all, George ? " "No, I'm not." " Good-night then," he called out, and wondered as he went into the club, what could have made the other alter his intention.

Chapter II

The next morning was already somewhat advanced when Harriet, running up stairs to take off her habit after her ride, heard Lady Billingdun calling from her bedroom ; so she entered. Her ladyship, in a mass of pale blue silk and creamy lace, was indulging in the luxury of a long morning's rest in bed. A table by her side was covered with roses and lilac, and silver knick-knacks, magazines and papers. The picture pre sented was more bright and amiable than was the tone in which Lady Billingdun bade the girl " shut the door and come closer," and Harriet dropped into a chair, prepared for a scolding. " My dear child," she began, " you were foolish last night — you disappointed me dreadfully." " Why, darling ? " " When you put on your little innocent looks, you are always very certain you have done wrong.