“Go and see ’im in his room—’e’s there.”
“I won’t, and I don’t want any saucy suggestions from you, either.” She tapped her foot and fingered the five-pound note indecisively. “You’ve been in the provinces all the while I’ve been abroad. Have you ever heard of Eliphalet Cardomay?”
“ ’Course. Who ’asn’t? Runs his own companies, doesn’t ’e? I suppose anyone who’s heard of Queen Anne ’as ’eard of ’im.”
“His own companies? What sort of theatres?”
“Big drama houses.”
“Oh! Oh! That’s the worst of being out of the swim so long. H’m! Wonder if it ’ud be a mistake——” She took a pen and wrote a receipt for five pounds. “With Mrs. Montmorency’s compliments, please, and tell him she is satisfied.”
Emma placed it on the arm of Eliphalet’s chair, saying:
“All right! You don’t ’ave to go, after all.”
Eliphalet Cardomay’s five-pound note had created a profound impression on Mrs. Montmorency. That he, at his age, could produce so large a sum without protest or difficulty argued that he must be in a singularly sound financial position. A man who could do so much could probably do more—and if that were the case——
She had worked out her life on strictly practical lines—the margin for enjoyment being limited by her tangible assets. It was purely motives of economy that only allowed the indulgence of a single “Saturday” in the week. With a little more capital a “Saturday” might also occur on Tuesday. Her “mink” might cease to be a substitute and become mink. Scented soaps, patchouli, and many other nose-offending delicacies might spring into being about her. A cellar, even, might be started, and a silver mirror added to her gradually-dwindling toilet appointments. Clearly, it was not advisable to cast Eliphalet forth without first plumbing his resources. That grown-up daughter was rather a stumbling-block. Daughters are unsympathetic creatures, and it might very well be that she would stand in the way of her father’s generous impulses. The main thing to do was to find out exactly what their position was, and meanwhile to lie low.