“You think this dinner of mine a mad affair?” I found Arsenio saying. “Well, think so, in your stolid English fashion!” He shrugged his shoulders scornfully. “You don’t see what it means? Oh, of course you don’t! I suppose you love Lucinda as well—I said, Julius, that you loved Lucinda as well—and the one merit of the English language is, that ‘love’ is a tolerably distinctive word when applied to a woman—in that damned black frock as if she were dressed as her beauty deserves? Well, I don’t; I know—we know, we Southerners—how the setting enhances the jewel. By my cunning incitements—you heard, but you had no ears—she will dress herself to-night; you’ll see!” He waved his hands to embrace the room. “And I have given her suitable surroundings!”
“I suppose it’s about time that we bedecked ourselves,” I suggested, rather wearily.
“Yes—but one moment!” He leant forward in his chair. “What’s to become of her, Julius?”
I answered him rather fiercely, brutally perhaps. “I think you’ve lost the right to concern yourself with that.”
“I have, I know. Hence the occasion of this evening. But you, Julius?”
“I shall always be at her service, if she needs help. As you know, she’s very independent.”
He nodded his head. Then he smiled his monkey smile. “And there’s Godfrey Frost, of course. Entirely in a position to assist her! A sound head! A good business man! Wants his price, but——!”
“Oh, damn you, go and dress for your infernal dinner!”
The devil was in him. He got up with a grin. “I doubt whether you’ll be very good company! Oh, let’s see, where’s that revolver? Oh, I gave it back to Louis, so I did! Our esteemed friend ought to be here in half an hour. Do you happen to know that he and Lucinda have been to the Lido together this afternoon? No, you don’t? Oh, yes! My friend Alessandro and I saw them embarking. Doesn’t that fact add a further interest to this evening? But look at the room—the table! Shall we not outshine the Frost millions to-night—you and I, Julius?”