Jeanne of the Marshes | Page 6

manage something. He told me yesterday that he was going back to
Norfolk very soon. I fancy that he has a brother who keeps rather a
strict watch over him, and he is not allowed to stay up in town very
long at a time."
"I know the name," Forrest remarked. "They are a very old Roman
Catholic family. We'll come and dine, if you say that you can arrange it.
But I don't see how we can all hope to get an invitation out of him on
such a short acquaintance."
The Princess was looking thoughtful.
"Leave it to me," she said. "I have an idea. Be at the Savoy at a quarter
past eight, and bring Lord Ronald."
Forrest took up his hat. He looked at the Princess with something very
much like admiration in his face. For years he had dominated this
woman. To-day, for the first time, she had had the upper hand.
"We will be there all right," he said. "Engleton will only be too glad to
be where Jeanne is. I suppose young De la Borne is the same way."
The Princess sighed.
"Every one," she remarked, "is so shockingly mercenary!"

CHAPTER II
The Princess helped herself to a salted almond and took her first sip of
champagne. The almonds were crisp and the champagne dry. She was
wearing a new and most successful dinner-gown of black velvet, and
she was quite sure that in the subdued light no one could tell that the
pearls in the collar around her neck were imitation. Her afternoon's
indisposition was quite forgotten. She nodded at her host approvingly.
"Cecil," she said, "it is really very good of you to take in my two

friends like this. Major Forrest has just arrived from Ostend, and I was
very anxious to hear about the people I know there, and the frocks, and
all the rest of it. Lord Ronald always amuses me, too. I suppose most
people would call him foolish, but to me he only seems very, very
young."
The young man who was host raised his glass and bowed towards the
Princess.
"I can assure you," he said, "that it has given me a great deal of
pleasure to make the acquaintance of Major Forrest and Lord Ronald,
but it has given me more pleasure still to be able to do anything for you.
You know that."
She looked at him quickly, and down at her plate. Such glances had
become almost a habit with her, but they were still effectual. Cecil de la
Borne leaned across towards Forrest.
"I hear that you have been to Ostend lately, Major Forrest," he said. "I
thought of going over myself a little later in the season for a few days."
"I wouldn't if I were you," Forrest answered. "It is overrun just now
with the wrong sort of people. There is nothing to do but gamble,
which doesn't interest me particularly; or dress in a ridiculous costume
and paddle about in a few feet of water, which appeals to me even
less."
"You were there a little early in the season," the Princess reminded
him.
Major Forrest assented.
"A little later," he admitted, "it may be tolerable. On the whole,
however, I was disappointed."
Lord Ronald spoke for the first time. He was very thin, very long, and
very tall. He wore a somewhat unusually high collar, but he was very
carefully, not to say exactly, dressed. His studs and links and waistcoat

buttons were obviously fresh from the Rue de la Paix. The set of his tie
was perfection. His features were not unintelligent, but his mouth was
weak.
"One thing I noticed about Ostend," he remarked, "they charge you a
frightful price for everything. We never got a glass of champagne there
like this."
"I am glad you like it," their host said. "From what you say I don't
imagine that I should care for Ostend. I am not rich enough to gamble,
and as I have lived by the sea all my days, bathing does not attract me
particularly. I think I shall stay at home." "By the by, where is your
home, Mr. De la Borne?" the Princess asked. "You told me once, but I
have forgotten. Some of your English names are so queer that I cannot
even pronounce them, much more remember them."
"I live in a very small village in Norfolk, called Salthouse," Cecil de la
Borne answered. "It is quite close to a small market-town called Wells,
if you know where that is. I don't suppose you do, though," he added.
"It is an out-of-the-way corner of the world."
The Princess shook her head.
"I never heard of it," she said. "I am going to motor through Norfolk
soon, though, and I