XXXV
MAME had received a sort of hint that one or two nice plums were in the matrimonial basket.
For some weeks to come she had every opportunity of judging how nice the plums in the basket really were. No matter where the ripe fruit clustered, there to be seen wasla belle Américaine. Not that, strictly speaking, she took rank as “a looker.” Really and truly she did not pretend to beauty. But she had a way with her. She had the charm of one not afraid to be herself. And that as much as anything was what people liked about her. She was not afraid to be herself. So many of her more sophisticated compatriots were shy of giving nature a chance.
Perhaps they hardly realised that what passes for aristocracy in England is essentially barbarous; it counts freedom and frankness and don’t-care-a-damness as second only to dollars. Mame had her share of the first and was reputed to have more than her share of the second. Thus, to the annoyance of a coterie among her countrywomen, who were blessed with girls of their own, she was likely to cut rather more ice than their privately tutored-and-governessed, trained-to-the-minute offspring. She was such an Original, while they conformed to a type. Where they were all prunes andprisms, little Miss Chicago was forcible and unexpected.
By the time Miss Du Rance had been seen at the Embassy on the evening of the Fourth of July and she had been seen again in the grounds of Buckingham Palace on the afternoon of the Fifth, the coterie began “to get the wind up.” Was it really a fact that dear Emily had invited Miss Thingamy to Dunkeldie for the last week in August and the first week in September? If so, it was almost a scandal. Polly Childwick certainly thought so; likewise Marcella Creber Newsum. Moreover, they both agreed that it would be doing dear, simple-hearted Emily an act of Christian kindness to say so. And the more forcibly it was said the more kind and the more Christian the act would be.
Dunkeldie hung in the balance. If Mame could bring off that it would be acoup. Such was Lady Violet’s considered opinion and she knew every blade of grass on the course.
Still, the remnant of the prehistoric Four Hundred, a sort of prætorian Old Guard, was mustering every ounce that it possessed in the way of “influence.” Dunkeldie would be a bit too much, when people like those really nice Perkinses with a villa on the Lido and their eldest boy in the Blues were still out in the cold. Dear Emily was so conservative in some ways; and yet in others, like ordinary mortals, so apt to be taken in.
It was that wicked Violet who was really to blame.She had an atrocious and ill-bred habit of pulling legs. One never quite knew how one stood with her. She seemed to have a down on certain people who were considerably richer than herself; she was very unconventional; and quite uncomfortably clever. Why she was running this Miss Du Rance nobody knew; but the opinion was growing that at the back of the mind of the freakish Violet was a desire to make Clanborough House look foolish.
Somebody ought to warn dear Emily. It was a Christian duty. Besides, if persons like Miss Du Rance were given the run of the garden what was the use of trying to remain exclusive? With the whole world topsy-turvy, people in the position of dear Emily could not be too careful.
Lady Violet had shrewdly diagnosed the state of the case. The Colony was arming itself, the Pilgrim Daughters were going out on the warpath. They could not afford to let this dangerous little feline have things all her own way. Even her dollars could not condone her. And the best and latest information was unable to say where and what those dollars were.
The Puss, it was clear, had nothing to give away. Let her bear in mind that she still had to walk delicately. Many vigilant hands were simply itching to cut her claws and to trim her fur. The odd thing was she did not appear to amuse her compatriots at all; whereas the natives of the island seemed to find her great fun. It was her dollars, of course. But then those who hail from the land where dollars grow are apt to be so muchless charmed by them than the poor and rather mercenary British.
Mame continued “to get around.” The main reason, no doubt, was that her work made it necessary. But soon a certain ambition took root in her. According to the office calendar, There is a Tide. While she was about it, she would be wise to neglect no opportunity of putting herself in solid. Experience had taught her already that if you don’t take the chances that offer, your luck has a nasty trick of back-firing. Yes, if opportunity arose it would be well to be in solid.
Henley was fun. So was Ascot. So was Hurlingham. So was Lord’s. Perhaps Henley was the best fun of all. Somehow, honest Thames water seemed to take a bit of starch out of the folks. Then there were several jolly dances; and other functions, rather more formal, but still in their way pleasant.
Week by week Mame met the same crowd under slightly differing conditions. And even her sponsor owned that it was wonderful how she adjusted herself to circumstances. Under expert guidance she was now developing a sure instinct of her own. It soon began to make a real difference to her personality. Happily it didn’t take out the “pep.”
She was astonishingly quick at picking up ideas. And she was not content merely to pick them up; she had a faculty for putting them to new and entertaining uses. Lady Violet, for all her experience of two continents, had never seen anyone like her. She was a unique combination of demureness and daring. Thethings she said and the way she said them were beyond the compass of ordinary mortals. If you admired her dollars they went; if you didn’t admire her dollars these gems of thought rather “got the bird.”
But dollars are fascinating things. In England a mere rumour of them appears to have glamour. Since the War they have been getting so scarce, except among the wrong people. Miss Du Rance might be in that inclusive category, but then she was so adaptable. Her nationality and her youth were immensely in her favour. Dear Percy and dear Algernon, of course, would have to marry somebody; there did not seem to be enough British money to go round; it was a bore, her not having been presented, but no doubt she could be on her marriage. And even if she had no friends in America, that was more than offset by being “in” with Clanborough House.
Lady Violet, in the meantime, scented the breeze and enjoyed her wicked self hugely. Like her father, that charming and distinguished man, she had a rather unconventional view of life. Certain pomposities and pretensions gave her an impish desire to prick them. She knew that when it came down to bedrock they were rooted in mere lucre. In spite of its airs and graces, so cleverly used as a screen for the vulgar truth, the British aristocracy, what was left of it, was the most mercenary institution on the face of the earth. She did not blame it in the least. Being a woman of the world she did not blame anything for anything just now. It was one hell of a scramble with the devilhanging on to the hindmost. But if one had a sense of humour and kept one’s eyes open, it was wonderful what fun was to be got out of the charming piggy-wiggies one saw in the dear old stye.
The Canary was sacred, of course. Dear Mother had kept up her end so bravely; and Gwendolen was a good and sensible girl, though a little dull. But the minor dicky birds, the Percies and the Algernons were fair game for an early rising Puss, who had had its little tail twisted pretty severely at one time or another. As good as gold she was too, but without a sou, except what she earned by her own wits.
Meanwhile, the battle raged. Lady Violet resolved that Mame should be invited to Scotland for the deer stalking. It would crown her success. Such pluck deserved recognition. Lady Violet had a strong dash of sportsmanship in her. She was all for the underdog; and the uncalled-for attitude of certain people had rather “got her goat.” Live and let live was an excellent motto; in fact, it so happened that it was the motto of the Trehernes. She enjoyed nothing better than to salt the tails of the Marcella Creber Newsums of the earth and their British prototypes. Mame was doing harm to nobody, yet New York-on-Thames was determined to down her.
However, they would see. It was true that Aunt Emily seemed to be wavering. Eton v. Harrow was through. People were packing up and clearing off to Goodwood and then to Cowes for the yachting. Lady Violet obtained an invitation for her little friend aboardtheExcelsiorwith those comic people the Dunnings. Glorious beer. But in Britain these days there was great competition even for that. It was one of the key industries that had done very well in the War. She herself was going to spend five days aboard theExcelsior, if she was able to survive them. No doubt she would. New people were so much more amusing than the old. But she had rather made it a condition that she should be accompanied by her little friend.
Still, Cowes and the Dunnings were a mere side show. Scotland at the end of next month would be the joy wheel. And Aunt Emily seemed to be wavering. To Celimene’s chagrin, Mame had not been included in the invitation she herself had already received. If it went phut, it would be one up to the other side.
A proper score for Mrs. Creber Newsum if Miss Du Rance was left out. Her friend and partner chivalrously felt she must be up and doing. In some ways it would suit the firm better for Mame to stay in town gathering news while Celimene was sunning herself on the moors, but that hardly seemed fair. Besides, their job could be carried on anywhere within reach of a telegraph office; and in that respect Dunkeldie was very well off.
Honest work and real grit had earned the reward of a jolly fortnight. Celimene was fully determined that Mame should have it. She was beginning to take a personal pride in the success against odds of this clever child. Besides, if little Miss Chicago was left out in the cold, there would be smiles.
The thing hung fire so long that it began to look as if the day was going against them. Mame herself inclined to think so. The Colony was very active; it was always trying to call her bluff. All through the summer she had managed to keep her chin above water, but she could not expect to go on like that forever. Soon or late, something was bound to happen.
There were several reasons why Mame’s heart was set on an invitation to Dunkeldie; but one must not look for everything in this world. All the same it was a defeat. And the moral of it was, no doubt, that at last the tide had begun to turn.