If she’s not in the village, we’d better skip back before we’re missed,” said the heir.
“Oh, that’s all right. Pater thinks we’re in the grounds, and there won’t be any bother if we show up at nine.”
They rode on. The quarter-hour chimed, and Martin became impatient.
“She was humbugging me, as usual,” he reflected. “Well, this time I’m pleased.”
An eager voice whispered:
“Hold the gate! It’ll rattle when I climb over. They’ve not heard me. I crept here on the grass.”
Angèle had changed her dress to a dark-blue serge and sailor hat. This was decidedly thoughtful. In her day attire she must have attracted a great deal of notice. Now, in the dark, neither the excellence of her clothing nor the elegance of her carriage would differentiate her too markedly from the village girls.
She was breathless with haste, but her tongue rattled on rapidly.
“Mamma is ill. I knew she would be. I told Françoise I had a headache, and went to bed. Then I crept downstairs again. Miss Walker nearly caught me, but she’s so upset that she never saw me. As for Fritz, if I meet him – poof!”
“What’s the matter with Mrs. Saumarez?” asked Martin.
“Trop de cognac, mon chéri.”
“What’s that?”
“It means a ‘bit wobbly, my dear.’”
“Is her head bad?”
“Yes. It will be for a week. But never mind mamma. She’ll be all right, with Françoise to look after her. Here! You pay for everything. There’s ten shillings in silver. I have a sovereign in my stocking, if we want it.”
They were hurrying toward the distant medley of sound. Flaring naptha lamps gave the village street a Rembrandt effect. Love-making couples, with arms entwined, were coming away from the glare of the booths. Their forms cast long shadows on the white road.
“Ten shillings!” gasped Martin. “Whatever do we want with ten shillings?”
“To enjoy ourselves, you silly. You can’t have any fun without money. Why, when mamma dines at the Savoy and takes a party to the theater afterwards, it costs her as many pounds. I know, because I’ve seen the checks.”
“That has nothing to do with it. We can’t spend ten shillings here.”
“Oh, can’t we? You leave that to me. Mais, voyez-vous, imbécile, are you going to be nasty?” She halted and stamped an angry foot.
“No, I’m not; but – ”
“Then come on, stupid. I’m late as it is.”
“The stalls remain open until eleven.”
“Magnifique! What a row there’ll be if I have to knock to get in!”
Martin held his tongue. He resolved privately that Angèle should be home at nine, at latest, if he dragged her thither by main force. The affair promised difficulties. She was so intractable that a serious quarrel would result. Well, he could not help it. Better a lasting break than the wild hubbub that would spring up if they both remained out till the heinous hour she contemplated.
In the village they encountered Jim Bates and Evelyn Atkinson, surrounded by seven or eight boys and girls, for Jim was disposing rapidly of his six shillings, and Evelyn bestowed favor on him for the nonce.
“Hello! here’s Martin,” whooped Bates. “I thowt ye’d gone yam (home). Where hev ye – ”
Jim’s eloquence died away abruptly. He caught sight of Angèle and was abashed. Not so Evelyn.
“Martin’s been to fetch his sweetheart,” she said maliciously.
Angèle simpered sufficiently to annoy Evelyn. Then she laughed agreement.
“Yes. And won’t we have a time! Come on! Everybody have a ride.”
She sprang toward the horses. Martin alone followed.
“Come on!” she screamed. “Martin will pay for the lot. He has heaps of money.”
No second invitation was needed. Several times the whole party swung round with lively yelling. From the roundabouts they went to the swings; from the swings to the cocoanut shies. Here they were joined by the Beckett-Smythes, who endeavored promptly to assume the leadership.
Martin’s blood was fired by the contest. He was essentially a boy foredoomed to dominate his fellows, whether for good or evil. He pitched restraint to the winds. He could throw better than either of the young aristocrats; he could shoot straighter at the galleries; he could describe the heroic combat between the boxer and Velveteens; he would swing Angèle higher than any, until they looked over the crossbar after each giddy swirl.
The Beckett-Smythes kept pace with him only in expenditure, Jim Bates being quickly drained, and even they wondered how long the village lad could last.
The ten shillings were soon dissipated.
“I want that sovereign,” he shouted, when Angèle and he were riding together again on the hobby-horses.
“I told you so,” she screamed. She turned up her dress to extricate the money from a fold of her stocking. The light flashed on her white skin, and Frank Beckett-Smythe, who rode behind with one of the Atkinson girls, wondered what she was doing.
She bent over Martin and whispered:
“There are two! Keep the fun going!”
The young spark in the rear thought that she was kissing Martin; he was wild with jealousy. At the next show – that of a woman grossly fat, who allowed the gapers to pinch her leg at a penny a pinch – he paid with his last half-crown. When they went to refresh themselves on ginger-beer, Martin produced a sovereign. The woman who owned the stall bit it, surveyed him suspiciously, and tried to swindle him in the change. She failed badly.
“Eleven bottles at twopence and eleven cakes at a penny make two-and-nine. I want two more shillings, please,” he said coolly.
“Be aff wid ye! I gev ye seventeen and thruppence. If ye thry anny uv yer tricks an me I’ll be afther askin’ where ye got the pound.”
“Give me two more shillings, or I’ll call the police.”
Mrs. Maguire was beaten; she paid up.
The crowd left her, with cries of “Irish Molly!” “Where’s Mick?” and even coarser expressions. Angèle screamed at her:
“Why don’t you stick to ginger-beer? You’re muzzy.”
The taunt stung, and the old Irishwoman cursed her tormentor as a black-eyed little witch.
Angèle, seeing that Martin carried all before him, began straightway to flirt with the heir. At first the defection was not noted, but when she elected to sit by Frank while they watched the acrobats the new swain took heart once more and squeezed her arm.
Evelyn Atkinson, who was in
