“Tony will be insulted if you do not all mention the Bernaise,” Marshall had suggested during the chef’s absence.
Rickard declared without straining his veracity that it was the best Bernaise he had ever tasted. Tony’s face worked with emotion.
“It is because no one knows how to mix a Bernaise—bah, the bad stuff I’ve eaten! When I go to a big city, I go to the finest hotel. Good clothes, a diamond ring,” his finger shot up to his nose. “And who would refuse to give me a table to myself? Who would believe that it is a cook? I say, ‘Your best wine, and the steak thick, and a sauce Bernaise!’ Never have I tasted it but once fit to serve to a gentleman like Mr. Marshall—or Mr. Bliss. They make it with poor vinegar. You can not make the sauce Bernaise without the best Tarra-r-rragon vinegar.” His r’s hurtled out like a burst of artillery. “Everywhere you can not get the real Tar-r-ragon vinegar. Ah!” His face grew wolfish and eager. “Tony knows. Tony always carries it with him for the great gentlemen like Mr. Bliss, Mr. Marshall—”
“Some bread, Tony,” clipped in Mrs. Marshall. “You can not teach him his place,” she complained in the interval, “if you let him talk like this!”
“Oh, but you don’t want to, mother!”
Innes saw again the look of pain. Did he think her life complete, in its guarding of his own reckless one! Innes thought pitifully of the little knitted jackets. Hadn’t he ever sensed—those?
Tony trotted back with the bread. He was eager with speech, but Rickard was beginning a river anecdote, of his introduction to Godfrey, the story of the bacon rind. Marshall was at once interested in the tenor.
“We must have him down some night to sing for us, eh, mother?”
“Oh, I wish he wouldn’t call her that!” yearned Innes. A rich salad of mayonnaise and canned shrimps was rejected, to the chef’s despair.
“Why, you’ll incapacitate us, Tony.” Marshall waved it away. “I want to get back to Tucson alive. Now, a cup of coffee, not another thing on your life—or I’ll cut your salary. I want Mr. Rickard to do some work this afternoon! Now be quick with the coffee.”