On the other hand, as she had sunk all the capital she could spare in the flourishing business she had established, there would be very little for her to live upon if she were to throw it up and retire into obscurity in some quiet seaside place, which was the plan she had in her mind.
When Mrs. Webster arrived, as she did just before luncheon-time, Audrey’s heart beat high with pleasure and excitement. They had not seen one another since Audrey left her flat, and Mrs. Webster, who was the widow of a barrister, living in modest comfort on a small income which did not allow much margin for dress, was electrified by the magnificence of Audrey’s dress and surroundings.
“My dear child,” she exclaimed, as she looked at the pretty gown of grey silk muslin trimmed with strips of gorgeous Indian embroidery, “how smart you are! You make me ashamed of my old rags! And how splendidly you’re installed here! Good gracious, have you come into a fortune?”
And the good lady looked from Audrey to the beautiful room and the masses of flowers and palms which decorated it, with a slightly dubious uplifting of the eyebrows.
“No, of course not. Sit down, and I’ll tell you all about it. I told you I’d gone into business, didn’t I? Well, this is part of the stock-in-trade. I’ve only got this house for another month, but I don’t want to keep it even as long as that. Listen.”
And she poured into her friend’s sympathetic ear the whole history of her start in her new career, of the energetic help given her by Mr. Candover, the prosperous beginning of the business, and then the terrible scene of the coming of the lady in white, of the mystery of her disappearance, and finally she told of her renting “The Briars,” and of the card-playing that went on there in spite of her.
Mrs. Webster listened with the keenest interest, but to Audrey’s astonishment, she did not share her views as to the impossibility of her retaining her present position.
It was even apparent that she was inclined to share the opinion expressed by Dr. Fendall, that part at least of the extraordinary story she told about the white-robed lady was the result of her imagination.
“If it had all really happened, my dear, I don’t see how it is possible to account for your hearing no more of it,” she added sagely.
Audrey, though rather discouraged by this attitude on the part of her friend, went on to narrate the circumstances of her coming to “The Briars,” of the numerous acquaintances and neighbours who at once visited her, and of the high play in which they indulged under her roof.