“Very well,” she said. “But it isn’t the least necessary.”
He only stuck out his under jaw. She realised that Miss Schley would be in the artists’ room and said nothing more. They made their way very slowly to the great landing on the first floor of the house, from which a maze of reception rooms opened. Mr. and Mrs. Ongrin, the immensely rich Australians who were the owners of the house, were standing there ready to receive the two Royal Princesses who were expected, and Mr. Ongrin took from a basket on a table beside him a great bouquet of honey-coloured roses, and offered it to Lady Holme with a hearty word of thanks to her for singing.
She took the roses with a look of pleasure.
“How sweet of you! They suit my song,” she said.
She was thinking of the Italian song.
Mr. Ongrin, who was a large, loose-limbed man, with straw-coloured hair turning grey, and a broken nose, looked genial and confused, and she went on, still closely followed by Fritz.
“This is the room for the performers, my lady,” said the footman, showing them into a large, green drawing-room, with folding doors at one end shut off by an immense screen.
“Is the platform behind the screen?” Lady Holme asked.
“Yes, my lady. The ladies’ cloak-room is on the left—that door, my lady.”
There were already several people in the room, standing about and looking tentative. Lady Holme knew most of them. One was a French actor who was going to give a monologue; very short, very stout, very intelligent-looking, with a face that seemed almost too flexible to be human. Two or three were singers from the Opera House. Another was an aristocratic amateur, an intimate friend of Lady Holme’s, who had a beautiful contralto voice. Several of the committee were there too, making themselves agreeable to the artists. Lady Holme began to speak to the French actor. Fritz stood by. He scarcely understood a word of French, and always looked rather contemptuous when it was talked in his presence. The French actor appealed to him on some point in the conversation. He straddled his legs, uttered a loud, “Oh, wee! Oh, wee! wee!” and laughed.