“That’s a good ’un!” retorted the Baroness, “it is more likely you’ve been looking too much in the eyes of my little friend ’ere. You’re a couple of foxes, that’s what you are, and I expect it would take all my time to be looking after you both! And so I suppose it’s settled, Miss ’Arriet, and you’ll come with us to Brussels after all!”
“Yes, Madame, if you’ll take charge of me!” said Miss Brandt.
“We’ll do that for a couple of days, and then we’ll give over charge. Are we to engage a room for you, Captain, at the Hôtel de Saxe?”
“I had better see after that myself, Madame, as the date of my coming is uncertain,” replied Ralph.
“But you will come!” whispered Harriet.
“Need you ask? Would I not run over the whole world, only to find myself by your side? Haven’t you taken the taste out of everything else for me, Harriet?”
CHAPTER VIII.
Doctor Phillips was a man of sixty, and a bachelor. He had never made any home ties for himself, and was therefore more interested in Margaret Pullen (whose father had been one of his dearest friends) than he might otherwise have been. He feared that a heavy trial lay before her and he was unwilling to see it aggravated by any misconduct on the part of her brother-in-law. He could see that the young man was (to say the least of it) not behaving fairly towards his fiancée, Elinor Leyton, and he was determined to open his eyes to the true state of affairs with regard to Harriet Brandt. He spent a sleepless night, his last visit to Margaret’s suffering child having strengthened his opinion as to her hopeless condition, and he lay awake wondering how he should break the news to the poor young mother. He rose with the intention of speaking to Ralph without delay, but he found it more difficult to get a word with him than he had anticipated. The Gobelli party had decided to start with the Brimonts that afternoon, and Captain Pullen stuck to them the entire morning, ostensibly to assist the Baroness in her preparations for departure, but in reality, as anyone could see, to linger by the side of Miss Brandt. Miss Leyton perceived her lover’s defalcation as plainly as the rest, but she was too proud to make a hint upon the subject, even to Margaret Pullen. She sat alone in the balcony, reading a book, and gave no sign of annoyance or discomfiture. But a close observer might have seen the trembling of her lip when she attempted to speak, and the fixed, white look upon her face, which betrayed her inward anxiety. It made Margaret’s kind heart ache to see her, and Dr. Phillips more indignant with Ralph Pullen than before.
The party for Brussels had arranged to travel by the three o’clock train, and at the appointed time the doctor was ready in the balcony to accompany them to the entrepôt. There were no cabs in Heyst, the station being in the town. Luggage was conveyed backwards and forwards in hand carts drawn by the porters, and travellers invariably walked to their destination. The Baroness appeared dressed for her journey, in an amazing gown of blue velvet, trimmed with rare Maltese lace, with a heavy mantle over it, and a small hat on her head, which made her round, flat, unmeaning face, look coarser than before. She used the Herr Baron as a walking-stick as usual, whilst Harriet Brandt, in a white frock and large hat shading her glowing eyes under a scarlet parasol, looked like a tropical bird skimming by her side, with Captain Pullen in close attendance, carrying a flimsy wrap in case she should require it before she reached her journey’s end. The Brimonts, following in the rear, were of no account beside their more brilliant and important friends.
Ralph Pullen did not look pleased when he saw Doctor Phillips join the party.