第53章

Mrs.Alan Hosack, bearing a more than ever remarkable resemblance to those ship's figureheads that are still to be seen in the corners of old lumber yards, led the way out to the sun porch.Her lavish charms, her beaming manner, her clear blue eye, milky complexion, reddish hair, and the large bobbles and beads with which she insisted upon decorating herself made Howard Cannon's nickname of Cornucopia exquisitely right.She was followed by Mrs.Cooper Jekyll and a man servant, whose arms were full of dogs and books and newspapers.

"The dogs on the ground, Barrett," she said, "the books and papers on the table there, my chair on the right-hand side of it and bring that chair forward for Mrs.Jekyll.We will have the lemonade at once.Tell Lestocq that I shall not want the car before lunch, ask Miss Disberry to telephone to Mrs.John Ward Harrison and say that Iwill have tea with her this afternoon with pleasure, and when those two good little Sisters of Mercy finally arrive,--I could see them, all sandy, struggling along the road from my room, Augusta; dear me, what a life,--they are to be given luncheon as usual and the envelope that is on the hall table.That will do, I think."The man servant was entirely convinced that it would.

"And now, make yourself comfortable, dear Augusta, and tell me everything.So very kind of you to drive over like this on such a sunny morning.Yes, that's right.Take off that lugubrious Harem veil,--the mark of a Southampton woman,--and let me see your beautiful face.Before I try to give you a chance to speak I must tell you, and I'm sure you won't mind with your keen sense of humor, how that nice boy, Harry Oldershaw, describes those things.No, after all, perhaps I don't think I'd better.For one reason, it was a little bit undergraduate, and for another, I forget." She chuckled and sat down, wabbling for a moment like an opulent blancmange.

Minus the strange dark blue thing which had hidden her ears and nose and mouth and which suggested nothing but leprosy, Mrs.Jekyll became human, recognizable and extremely good to look at.She wore her tight-fitting suit of white flannel like a girl and even in that clear detective light she did not look a day over thirty.She painted with all the delicacy of an artist.She was there, as a close friend of Alice Palgrave, to discover why Gilbert had not gone with her to the Maine coast.

"I haven't heard from you since we left town," she said, beating about the bush, "and being in the neighborhood I thought it would be delightful to catch a glimpse of you and hear your news.I have none, except that I have just lost the butler who has been with me for so long, and Edmond is having his portrait painted again for some club or institution.It's the ninth time, I believe.He likes it.It's a sort of rest cure.""And how did you lose that very admirable butler? Illness or indiscretion?""Neither.Commerce, I suppose one might call it.It appears that one of these get-rich-quick munition men offered him double his wages to leave me, and Derbyshire couldn't resist it.He came to me with tears in his eyes and told me that he had to make the sacrifice owing to the increased cost of living.He has a family, you know.He said that the comic atmosphere of his new place might bring on neuritis, but he must educate his three boys.Really, there is a great deal of unsung heroism in the world, isn't there? In the meantime, I am trying to get accustomed to a Swiss, who's probably a German spy and who will set up a wireless installation on the roof."Then she dropped her baited hook."You have a large house party, Isuppose."

"Yes," said Mrs.Hosack, swinging her foot to keep the flies away.

The wind was off the land.