Page:Harper's New Monthly Magazine - v109.djvu/630

582 escapade which had set the town talking, and even found its way here and there into the newspapers. The heir to a European monarchy had been recently visiting London. A romantic interest surrounded him; for a lady not of a rank sufficiently high to mate with his had lately drowned herself for love of him, and the young man's melancholy good looks, together with the magnificent apathy of his manner, drew after him a train of gossip. Kitty failed to meet him in society; certain invitations that for once she coveted did not arrive; and in a fit of pique she declared that she would make acquaintance with him in her own way. For once the spring mornings tempted her to early rising, and a morning canter. The Prince rode habitually before breakfast. One morning Kitty's horse ran away, when no one but the young man and his aide-de-camp was in sight. The Prince pursued the lady in distress, leaving his aide-de-camp far behind; and he and Kitty returned, laughing and talking, to Hyde Park Corner. The Prince called upon her the same day; but whether Kitty boasted of her ruse, or whether the old General in charge of the youth took alarm, in any case Kitty did not triumph long. At a court ball three nights after, the Prince passed her with glassy eyes, returning the barest bow to her smiling curtsy. Kitty with flaming cheeks made a tour of the great rooms, gathering a train of admirers, and stirring up little clouds of gossip that rose and subsided with her passage through the crowd. She betrayed nothing; but somehow the thing got out, and set in motion a perfect hurricane of talk. It was rumored that the old Prime Minister, Lord Parham, had himself said a caustic word to Lady Kitty; that royalty was annoyed; and that William Ashe had for once scolded his wife seriously.

Lady Tranmore was well aware that there was at any rate no truth in the last report: but she also knew that there was a tone of sharpness in the London chatter, that was new with regard to Kitty. It was as though a certain indulgence was wearing out, and what had been amusement was passing into criticism.

She and Margaret French discussed the matter a little, sotto voce, while Margaret went on with the invitations, and Lady Tranmore made a French toy dance and spin for the babe's amusement. Their tone was one of close and friendly intimacy—an intimacy based clearly upon one common interest, their relation to Kitty. Margaret French was one of those beings in whom, for our salvation, this halting, hurried world of ours is still, on the whole, rich. She was unmarried, thirty-five, and poor. She lived with her brother, a struggling doctor, and she had come across Kitty in the first months of Kitty's married life, on some fashionable Soldiers' Aid committee, where Margaret had done the work, and Kitty with the other great ladies had reaped the fame. Kitty had developed a fancy for her, and presently could not live without her. But Margaret, though it soon became evident that she had taken Kitty and in due time the child—Ashe too, for the matter of that!—deep into her generous heart, preserved a charming measure in the friendship offered her. She would owe Kitty nothing, either socially or financially. When Kitty's smart friends appeared, she vanished. Nobody in her own world ever heard her mention the name of Lady Kitty Ashe, largely as that name was beginning to figure in the gossip of the day. But there were few things concerning the Bruton Street ménage that Lady Tranmore could not safely and rightly discuss with her; and even Ashe himself went to her for counsel.

"I am afraid this has made things worse than ever with the Parhams!" said Lady Tranmore, presently.

Margaret shook her head anxiously.

"I hope Kitty won't throw over their dinner next week."

"She is talking of it!"

"Yesterday she had almost made up her mind," said Margaret, reluctantly. "Perhaps you will persuade her. But she has been terribly angry with Lord Parham—and with Lady P. too!"

"And it was to be a reconciliation dinner, after the old nonsense between her and Lady Parham," sighed Lady Tranmore. "It was planned for Kitty entirely. And she is to act something, isn't she, with that young De La Rivière from the Embassy? I believe the Princess is coming—expressly to meet her. I have been hearing of it on all sides. She can't throw it over!"