“Well, everyone knows what he is, a fellow who is getting through his money as fast as he can, and who is as careless with his tongue as he is with his cash,” replied Jones. “I suppose you think,” he went on rather aggressively, “that, after last Sunday, nobody ought to play anything but bagatelle and dominoes with the Van Santens. You look upon me as a fool to risk my money?”
“Oh no, I don’t,” said Gerard quietly; “because I know you won’t risk much.”
Although Gerard took care to keep his voice as low as that of Jones was loud, Cora and Arthur, who were, as usual, at the piano together, were so intently interested in the discussion that they contrived to hear these words, and they exchanged looks.
Cora was flushed and angry. She rose from her seat at the piano and said quickly—
“Why did you come here to-day, Mr. Buckland, if you believed the infamous things Sir William Gurdon said, things, by the way, that he has apologized most humbly for?”
“I don’t think I could have given a better proof that I took the right side in the argument than by appearing here to-day, Miss Cora,” retorted Gerard diplomatically.
Even while he spoke to her, he had his eye on Cecil Jones, who had at once profited by Gerard’s turning away to follow Miss Davison into the adjoining room.
Cora being perforce content with this neat reply, Gerard managed to escape, and went into the middle room, where Mrs. Van Santen was pouring out tea. He thought what a strange contrast she made, in her simple gown, her black mittens, and the old-fashioned brooch and hair bracelets which she persisted in wearing, with the elegantly gowned daughters whose taste in dress excited the admiration of the men visitors, and the envy of the women.
Her quiet, old-fashioned, almost abrupt manner, too, was a relief after the artificiality of some of the other visitors, and Gerard wondered how she had managed so soon to get over the terrible shock of the preceding Sunday. He would have thought, knowing the simplicity of the old lady, that the bare suggestion of anything unfair in connection with her household would have been enough to make her shut up the house, and return in dudgeon to America with her daughters.
But she seemed to be in the same mood of placid good spirits as usual; and he supposed that her sons had known how, by getting hold of her by her weak side, to smooth over the trouble, and to persuade her that the unpleasant affair was only a passing cloud, such as would never darken their atmosphere again.