Chapter 7

FARNCOMBE.

[_Producing his cigarette case and exchanging her cigarette for one of his own._] I'll never smoke _that_.

LILY.

[_Pushing the match-stand towards him._] _Stoo_pid! Now, attend to me. What do you say to a tiny provision shop in Kennington, over the water?

FARNCOMBE.

Was that----?

LILY.

[_Nodding._] H'm; that was my start in the world. Father kept a small shop in Kennington-- Gladwin Street, near the Oval. We sold groceries, and butter and eggs and cheese, and pickled-pork and paraffin. I was born there-- on the second floor; and in Gladwin Street I lived till I was fourteen. Then father smashed, through the Stores cutting into our little trade. Well, hardly smashed; that's too imposing. The business just faded, and one morning we didn't bother to take the shutters down. Then, after a while, father got a starvation berth-- eighteen shillings a week!-- at a wholesale bacon warehouse-- Price and Moseley's-- still over the water; and I earned an extra five at a place in the Westminster Bridge Road, for pasting the gilt edges on to passe-partouts from nine a.m. till six in the evening.

FARNCOMBE.

[_His head bowed again._] Great heavens!

LILY.

Not a syllable against the passe-partouts! They were the making of me. It was the passe-partouts that brought me and Tedder together.

FARNCOMBE.

Who?

LILY.

Tedder. In the house where I worked, a man of the name of Tedder-- Ambrose Tedder-- taught dancing-- stage dancing-- "Tedder's Academy of Saltatory Art"-- and every time I passed Tedder's door, and heard his violin or piano, and the sound of the pupils' feet, I--! [_Breaking off and throwing herself back._] Oh, lor', if once I----!

FARNCOMBE.

Go on; go on.

LILY.

Well, ultimately Tedder took me and trained me-- did it for nix-- for what he hoped to get out of me in the future. Ah, and he _hasn't_ lost over me-- poor old Ambrose! He collared a third of my salary for ever so long; and now that the old chap's rheumaticky and worn out, I-- oh, it's not worth mentioning. [_Jumping up and walking away._] My stars, he could teach, could Tedder! I began by going to him for the last twenty minutes of my dinner-hour. He wanted to stop _that_, because it was bad for me, he said, to practise on a full-- a full--! Ha, ha, ha! On a _full_--! [_Behind the table, resting her two hands upon it and shaking with laughter._] Ho, ho, ho! As if I ever had-- in those days----!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Writhing._] Ah, don't-- don't----!

LILY.

[_Brushing the tears from her eyes._] I was a pupil of Tedder's for twelve months, and then he got me on at the Canterbury; and from the Canterbury I went to Gatti's, and from Gatti's to the Lane, for a few lines in the pantomime and an understudy-- my first appearance in the West End-- [_singing_] "Oh, the West End is the best end!"-- and from there I went to the old Strand, and there Morrie Cooling spotted me, and that led to me being engaged at the Pandora, where I ate my heart out, doing next to nothing, for two whole years. Then came the production of _The Duchess of Brixton_, and it was in _The Duchess_-- thanks to Vincent Bland-- that I sang the "Mind the Paint" song. He believed in me, did Vincent; _he_ saw I was fit for something more than just prancing about, and airing my ankles, in a gay frock. By Jupiter, how he fought for me; _how_ he fought for me, up to the final rehearsal! And to this day, whenever I indulge in a prayer, you bet Vincent Bland has a paragraph all to himself in it! [_Checking herself and coming to FARNCOMBE._] Oh, but-- I needn't inflict quite so much of my biography on you, need I? [_He rises._] Sorry. I merely wanted to tell you enough to show you-- to show you----

FARNCOMBE.

[_Close to her, gazing into her eyes._] To show me what a-- what a _marvel_ you are!

LILY.

[_Pleased._] Ha, ha! Oh, I'm not chucking mud at myself really. Why should I! Many a woman 'ud feel as vain as a peacock in my shoes. Fancy! From the shop in Gladwin Street to-- [_with a gesture_] to _this_! And from Tedder's stuffy room in the Westminster Bridge Road to the stage of the Pandora, as principal girl!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Tenderly._] Wonderful!

LILY.

[_Carried away by her narration and putting her hands upon his shoulders familiarly._] Yes, and all the schooling I've ever had, Eddie, was at a cheap, frowsy day-school in Kennington, with a tribe of other common, skinny-legged brats. Imagine it!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Taking her hands._] I can't imagine it; I defy anybody to.

LILY.

[_Unthinkingly allowing him to retain her hands._] Everything I've learned since-- except my music, and that I owe to Tedder and Vincent-- everything I've learned since, I've learned by sheer cuteness, from novels, the papers, the theatres, and by keeping my ears open like a cunning little parrot. [_Softly._] Ha, ha! That's what I am-- a cunning little parrot!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Laughing with her._] Ha, ha!

LILY.

[_Tossing her head._] Ho, I dare say, if I had the opportunity, I could imitate the fine _ly_dies _you_ mix with, so that in less than six months you'd hardly know the difference between them and me!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Holding her hands to his breast._] There is no difference already; there _is_ none.

LILY.

Isn't there! [_Almost nestling up to him._] Ah, you should see me in one of my vile tempers. [_Wistfully._] Then-- then you wouldn't--! [_Becoming conscious of her proximity to him, she backs away and stands rubbing the palms of her hands together in embarrassment._] Anyhow-- anyhow it isn't my intention to give you a chance of comparing us.

FARNCOMBE.

[_Under his breath._] Oh-- Miss Parradell----!

LILY.

[_Collecting herself._] No, I-- I'm not going to let you make a fool of yourself over _me_, if I can help it.

FARNCOMBE.

Fool----!

LILY.

[_Facing him and speaking quietly but firmly._] Recollect, however shrewd and apt I may be, and however straight I've managed to keep myself, still-- I'm only a Pandora girl, and should always be remembered as one by your chums and belongings. Only a Pandora girl. Nothing can alter that, dear boy; and you mustn't-- you mustn't handicap yourself by hanging _me_ round your neck.

FARNCOMBE.

[_Heavily._] I-- I shouldn't be the first of my sort to marry a "Pandora girl," not by half a dozen or more.

LILY.

No, but-- without wishing to flatter you-- I don't quite put you on a level with Robbie Kinterton, and Glenroy, and Georgie Fawcus, and-- that crew. [_Cheerfully._] And so I mean to take care of you-- to take care of you for your own sake and for your mammy's and daddy's. [_She turns from him and fetches his hat and coat and gives them to him. He receives them from her with a dazed look._] Time's up. [_After a silence during which neither stirs._] Never mind. You'll survive it. [_Another pause._] Come along.

[_She passes him, to go to the door on the left. As she does so he flings his hat and coat on to the settee, and clasps her in his arms._

FARNCOMBE.

Lily-- Lily----!

LILY.

Ah, that's not fair!

FARNCOMBE.

Don't-- don't send me away like this!

LILY.

[_Her hand against his breast._] It isn't fair of you!

FARNCOMBE.

Say you'll take time to consider.

LILY.

I hate you for it!

FARNCOMBE.

Ask Roper's advice-- your mother's----!

LILY.

I've trusted you!

FARNCOMBE.

Ask Miss Birch----!

LILY.

Eddie! Lord Farncombe----! [_He releases her and they confront one another, she panting, he hanging his head guiltily._] W-w-well, I-- I _have_ been mistaken in you.

FARNCOMBE.

[_In despair._] I-- I---- [_Turning from her and hitting his temples with his fists._] Forgive me. Forgive me.

LILY.

Ha! I-- I thought you were such a quiet, bashful fellow.

FARNCOMBE.

Forgive me. Forgive me.

[_She wavers and then slowly approaches him._

LILY.

[_Gently._] Don't-- don't fret about it. _I_ forgive you. [_Touching his arm with her finger-tips._] I'm to blame. [_Drawing a deep breath._] All those dances----!

[_He seizes her hand and kisses it passionately._

FARNCOMBE.

I may see you again? I may see you again? Lily-- Lily--! Lily----!

LILY.

[_In a whisper, averting her head._] N-no-- we'd better not---- [_There is a low but distinct knocking at the door on the left. She withdraws her hand and they look at each other, he inquiringly, she with a calm face. The knocking is repeated._] Mother. [_She goes to the door and speaks with her mouth close to it._] That you, mother? [_She listens for a reply and again the knocking is heard._] Who is it? [_She opens the door. JEYES is outside._] Nicko! [_JEYES comes into the room. He has rid himself of his wig and beard and is wearing an overcoat buttoned up to his chin and a cap drawn down to his brows. His face is white and his jaws are set determinedly._] How-- how have you got in? [_He produces a bunch of keys and grimly displays a latch-key._] Oh-- oh----! [_Pulling off his cap, JEYES advances to the table in the centre, glaring at FARNCOMBE. LILY closes the door sharply and also advances, speaking volubly to FARNCOMBE as she comes forward._] Captain Jeyes is in the habit of bringing me home from the theatre after my work; and a long while ago I gave him a latch-key to carry on his key-ring, so that he could let me into my house whenever I'd forgotten my own key. He hasn't the slightest right to use it at any other time; nobody knows that better than he does. It's a confounded liberty! [_To JEYES, hotly._] What are you doing here at all at this hour of the morning?

JEYES.

[_After an expressive glance at FARNCOMBE._] An odd question, in the circumstances.

LILY.

Answer me!

JEYES.

Keeping an eye on _you_.

LILY.

Spying on me!

JEYES.

On you-- [_jerking his head towards FARNCOMBE_] and----

LILY.

How dare you!

JEYES.

I've been at it all night.

LILY.

All night!

JEYES.

Yes; I was in the theatre while you were supping and dancing.

LILY.

_You_ were!

JEYES.

I _meant_ to be there. You did your best to stop it----

LILY.

That's a lie!

JEYES.

So that you could enjoy yourself thoroughly-- [_glancing at FARNCOMBE again_] with----

LILY.

A lie!

JEYES.

I didn't leave till past three. You and-- [_with another motion of the head towards FARNCOMBE_] had just had your fifth dance together, and they were hauling you round the building.

LILY.

Where _were_ you? Who----?

JEYES.

Excuse me; that's my business. Then I went back to Jermyn Street, and it suddenly struck me I'd like to see how your escort was composed.

LILY.

You've been watching outside?

JEYES.

Since a quarter-to-four-- under the portico at the corner.

LILY.

[_Contemptuously._] _You_----!

JEYES.

Yes, but, by God, I wasn't quite prepared for _this_!

LILY.

This!

JEYES.

[_Cramming his cap into his overcoat-pocket and coming to FARNCOMBE._] What the hell's your game? You've got some accommodating friends, both of you, in that blackguard Roper and that slut Jimmie Birch!

LILY.

Oh--! [_Approaching JEYES with clenched fists._] Ah, you cur----!

FARNCOMBE.

[_Holding up his hand to her appealingly._] Miss Parradell----!

LILY.

[_To JEYES._] You cur! Mother's been told that Lord Farncombe's with me. I sent Jimmie up to tell her.

JEYES.

Where _is_ your mother?

LILY.

In bed, of course.

JEYES.

Snoring! Ha, ha, ha! Faugh, there's an ugly name, my girl, for such mothers as yours!

LILY.

Ah--! [_Raising her fist._] Ah-h-h-h----!

FARNCOMBE.

Miss Parradell----!

LILY.

[_Restraining herself with difficulty and pacing the room._] Oh, the cur! The cur! The cur!

FARNCOMBE.

[_To JEYES, looking at him steadily._] Captain Jeyes----

LILY.

The low cur!

FARNCOMBE.

Captain Jeyes, do you happen to know where I lodge?

JEYES.

No; I don't know where your sty is.

FARNCOMBE.

St. James's Place-- forty-seven. I shall be in at twelve o'clock. [_Picking up his hat and overcoat._] From the tone this gentleman adopts, Miss Parradell, I assume that he considers himself entitled to concern himself in your affairs. [_Moving over to the left where LILY joins him._] Perhaps it will make it easier for you if I----

LILY.

[_Clutching his arm._] Ah, I'm so indignant, Eddie! I-- I-- I----!

JEYES.

Eddie! _Eddie!_

LILY.

[_Turning upon JEYES in a fury._] Yes, you cad-- Eddie, _Eddie_, EDDIE! You cad! You sneak! You idler! You waster! I've stood it long enough. This is the last straw! I've done with you! I'm sick to death of you! How I've tolerated you all these years is a mystery to me! After this, get out of my sight and never show yourself to me again!

JEYES.

[_Grasping her wrist, fiercely._] Lily----!

LILY.

[_Wrenching herself free._] _What!_ [_Losing control over herself utterly._] You'll spy on me, will you, you shabby loafer! You'll peep at me while I'm eating my supper, and count the dances I choose to give that boy over there, will you! And then you'll break into my house, and insult my friends behind their backs, and insinuate foul things against my poor old mother-- you damned coward!-- and against me, [_pointing to FARNCOMBE_] and _him_! Why, you're not fit to black his boots, and you never were-- never-- you-- you-- you scum! Here! [_Taking FARNCOMBE'S note from her bosom and thrusting it at JEYES._] Read that! [_Sitting in the arm-chair by the centre table._] Read it! Read it! Read it! [_JEYES reads to himself._] Out loud!

JEYES.

[_Mumbling._] "Dear Miss Parradell. Will you allow me----?"

LILY.

Louder!

JEYES.

"Will you allow me to remain behind for a few minutes with Miss Jimmie after the others have gone? I know I am presuming a lot, but I cannot leave you till I have asked you the most important question a man can put to a woman. Farncombe."

LILY.

[_Breathless._] Written here-- on my note-paper-- while I was out of the room! It came on me like a thunder-clap! Ah! Ah! Ah! [_JEYES sits upon the settee, staring at the carpet._] And Morrie Cooling and Lal will tell you that I hadn't a notion that Lord Farncombe was to be at the supper last night, or any of the boys; not a notion. I blackguarded 'em both for deceiving me, and causing me to deceive _you_. [_Taking the scent-atomizer from the table and spraying her face with it._] Now! What have you to say now! Ah! Ah! Ah!

JEYES.

[_Huskily._] Why-- why the devil did you let Jimmie go? Why did you let her go? It was knowing that you and Farncombe were alone that-- that made me----

LILY.

Oh, if I'd suspected that a private detective was hovering around, I'd have kept the whole lot of my friends! As it was, Jimmie was looking dead, and--! [_in disdain._] Pah!

[_There is a pause and then JEYES sits upright and draws his hand wearily across his eyes._

JEYES.

[_To LILY._] Well, I-- I beg your pardon. [_LILY continues to spray herself energetically._] I'm not so completely _scum_ as not to see that I ought to beg your pardon. [_Humbly._] I beg your pardon.

LILY.

[_Softening by degrees._] You-- you drive me mad sometimes-- positively frantic!

JEYES.

[_Partly to himself._] Mad! [_To FARNCOMBE._] And you, Farncombe-- I hope you'll accept my apologies. I offer them unreservedly.

[_FARNCOMBE bows, somewhat stiffly._

LILY.

[_To JEYES, protruding her lower lip._] I-- I didn't mean half I said, Nicko; I didn't mean half of it. [_Eyeing FARNCOMBE askance as she replaces the atomizer._] And I-- I'm ashamed of myself for losing my self-control as I did. [_There is another pause and then JEYES gets to his feet and silently returns the note to LILY. She looks up at him piteously and puts the note back into her bosom. Then he takes out his key-ring, removes the latch key from it, and throws the key on to the table. Having done this, he drags his cap from his pocket and makes for the door on the left. As he passes LILY, she rises and gently plucks at his sleeve._] Nicko-- Nicko----

JEYES.

[_In a thick voice._] Eh?

LILY.

Won't you-- won't you give Lord Farncombe-- some explanation----?

JEYES.

Explanation----?

LILY.

Of the sort of terms we've been on, you and I, He-- he must be-- rather puzzled-- [_turning away to the table._] Oh, it's due to you as well as to me!

JEYES.

[_Dully._] Just as you please. [_With a hard laugh._] Ho, ho! Yes, perhaps it _is_ due to me that he should learn a little more about me than he's been able to gather from personal observation-- and from your eloquent but summary description. [_Under his breath, screwing up his cap._] Idler-- waster-- loafer----!

LILY.

[_Penitently._] Nicko!

JEYES.

[_To FARNCOMBE, quietly._] Oh, it's a true bill, Farncombe. And yet, a very few years back-- _she_ won't dispute it-- I was one of the smartest chaps going, good at my job, with prospects as rosy as any man's in my regiment. There wasn't a cloud the size of your hand, apparently, in my particular bit of sky at the time I speak of; not a speck! Then I met this young lady, and-- [_pointing to the box-ottoman_] well, since we're in for it----!

FARNCOMBE.

Oh, Captain Jeyes----

JEYES.

No, no; she wishes you to understand the exact nature of the friendship between her and me. I'm obeying instructions. [_FARNCOMBE sits on the ottoman, nursing his hat and overcoat. Then JEYES sits in the arm-chair by the centre table, first turning the chair so that it faces FARNCOMBE._] Farncombe, I was under thirty, and still a subaltern, when I made Miss Parradell's acquaintance. Like most of my pals, I was spending my nights, whenever I could get away from Aldershot, in the stalls at the Pandora-- much the same as _you've_ been doing recently, and as a certain class of young man'll go on doing as long as the Pandora, and similar shops, continue to flourish. Ha! How honoured we felt, we men, in those days, at knowing some of the Pandora girls, and having the privilege of supping 'em and standing 'em dinner on Sunday evenings! If they'd been royal princesses we couldn't have been more elated. [_With a gesture._] Don't jump at conclusions. It generally ended there, or with our running into debt at a jeweller's. _We_ were young, _they_ were beautiful-- or we thought 'em so; but the majority of us weren't vicious, any more than the majority of the girls were-- though many of 'em were mighty calculating. It would have been better for us men if all the girls _had_ been wicked; the glamour, the infatuation, the folly, would have been sooner over, and one of us at least would have had a different tale to tell.

[_JEYES pauses, gazing at the floor, FARNCOMBE moves impatiently on the ottoman and LILY seats herself upon the settee._

LILY.

[_Plaintively._] Nicko-- Nicko-- I merely wanted you to----

JEYES.

[_Rousing himself and speaking to LILY over his shoulder._] Who was it introduced us?

LILY.

Miss Du Cane-- Aggie Du Cane.

JEYES.

Agnes Du Cane. _She's_ gone under. [_To LILY._] Outside Buckley's oyster-bar, wasn't it?

LILY.

Not outside; in the parlour.

JEYES.

[_To FARNCOMBE._] Lily had only lately come to the Pandora-- a pale-faced slip of a thing. [_To LILY._] Eighteen, weren't you?

LILY.

[_Nodding._] Eighteen.

JEYES.

I confess I wasn't overwhelmingly attracted by her at first; she was so unlike the rest. [_Laughing bitterly._] Ha, ha, ha!

LILY.

[_Weakly._] Ha, ha, ha! Wasn't I dowdy!

JEYES.

But she was humble, and naïve, and confiding; and my vanity was tickled by her delight at the little treats I gave her, and by her gratitude for a tuppeny-ha'penny present or two. Nobody, I believe, with any pretensions to being a gentleman, had paid her much attention before I arrived on the scene.

LILY.

[_In a murmur._] No; nobody.

JEYES.

I didn't find out that I was in love with her-- you guess it's a love story, don't you?----

FARNCOMBE.

[_Delicately._] My dear Captain Jeyes----

JEYES.

I didn't find out that I was neck and heels in love with her until nearly a year afterwards, when my regiment went to the Curragh. _That_ did it-- separation! What I suffered in that hole, thinking of her, starving for her! In less than three months I was in London again, on leave, and in my old stall at the Pandora. But even then, Farncombe, I hadn't your pluck.

FARNCOMBE.

Pluck?

JEYES.

The pluck to snap my fingers at the world and propose marriage to a Pandora girl. Besides, my mother was alive then, and-- [_abruptly, with a wild look_] would you like to know what _she_ used to call these Pandora women, Farncombe? [_Bending forward, his hands tightly clenched._] She used to call them _a menace to society_. With their beauty, and their flagrant opportunities for displaying it, they are a living curse, she used to say-- a source of constant dread to mothers whose hope it is to see their sons safely mated to modest, maidenly girls of the typical English pattern. She told us once-- my brothers and me-- frightened as to where _we_ were drifting, that she was one of many mothers who prayed on their knees daily that their boys might be spared from being drawn into the net woven by their own weaknesses and passions-- drawn into it by these-- these----! [_He breaks off, stares about him for a moment, and then rises._] Oh, but I oughtn't to have repeated this to _you_. Pardon. [_Walking away unsteadily._] Ho, damned bad taste! [_Behind the table, supporting himself by leaning upon it._] Where was I? Back from the Curragh! [_Confused._] Yes-- yes-- and so things went on for a couple o' years-- I trailing after Lily closer than ever-- and at last-- at last I _did_ ask her to be my wife.

LILY.

[_Who has been listening to JEYES with parted lips and wide-open eyes-- appealingly._] Don't! Don't, Nicko; don't!

JEYES.

[_Oblivious of her interruption._] But I'd left it too late. The novelty of me had worn off; she'd scores of friends by that time; she'd made her big hit, and followed it with another, and was the talk o' the town. And she'd money; she wasn't dependent on _me_ any longer for her gloves and her trips and outings!

LILY.

[_Her head drooping._] Oh! Oh! [_Wringing her hands._] Oh, that's _beastly_ of you; _beastly_!

JEYES.

She was kind to me too, in a way-- kind and cruel. She didn't want to marry me; she didn't want to marry anybody; she was in love with herself, and her success, and what it was bringing her. But she wouldn't give me the kick. No, she wouldn't do that; I _had_ been something to her. And there's where the kindness came in-- and the merciless cruelty. [_Sitting upon the fauteuil-stool rigidly._] God, if only she'd broken with me then, firmly and finally-- if only she'd broken with me then-- she-- she might have saved me!

LILY.

[_Struggling with her tears._] Oh, Nicko, Nicko!

JEYES.

Twelve months ago she did throw me a bone. The regiment was under orders for India, and of course I sent in my papers; and out of pity, I suppose-- and because I was always pestering her-- she promised to become engaged to me if I'd get other work to do. Work! I wonder whether really she was grinning to herself when she made the stipulation!

LILY.

Oh-- oh----!

JEYES.

Work! All the spunk, all the energy, had been sapped out of me long before, and even her promise couldn't revive it. My search for a berth wasn't much more than a sham. At the back of my head I knew very well what I'd come to. The only work _I_ was capable of was dancing attendance on _her_, and filling in what remained of the day and night at a rotten restaurant, a Bohemian club, and the bar of the theatre. And that's _been_ my sole employment for the past year-- nothing but that. Pretty, for a man who started life as swimmingly as I did! [_His voice dying away._] Pretty-- pretty-- pretty-- pretty----!

LILY.

[_After a profound stillness._] I-- I don't think you've ever-- put the case to me-- quite so plainly as this, Nicko.

JEYES.

I-- I don't think I've ever put it quite so plainly-- to myself.

LILY.

[_Her lip trembling._] You-- you won't believe me----

JEYES.

What?

LILY.

I-- I've never fully realised it till now-- the harm I've done you. I declare to God I've never realised it till now. [_Faintly._] Nicko----!

JEYES.