Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/257

243 THE PRINCIPAL BOY. 243

she had rehearsed for it. And yet it was presumably the first time she had been asked to say : " I love you " — that wonderful little phrase, so easy to say and so hard to be- lieve. Still, Lucy said and Frank believed it.

Not that Lucy did not share his belief. It must be for love that she was conceding Frank her hand — since her mother objected to the match. As the nephew of a peer, Frank could give her rather better society than she now en- joyed, even if he could not give her that of the peer, who had an hereditary feud with him. Of course she could not marry him yet, he was quite too poor for that, but he was a young man of considerable talents — which are after all gold pieces. When fame and fortune came to him, Lucy would come and join the party. En atteyidant, their souls would be wed. They kissed each other passionately, seal- ing the contract of souls with the red sealing-wax of burning lips. To them in Paradise entered the Guardian Angel with flaming countenance, and drove them into the outer dark- ness of the brilliant ball-room.

" My dear," said the Guardian Angel, who was Lucy Grayling's mother, " there is going to be an interval, and Mrs. Bayswater is so anxious for you to give that sweet re- citation from Racine."

So Lucy declaimed one of Athalie's terrible speeches in a way that enthralled those who understood it, and made those who didn't, enthusiastic.

The applause did not seem to gratify the Guardian Angel as much as usual. Lucy wondered how much she had seen, and, disliking useless domestic discussion, extorted a prom- ise of secrecy from her lover before they parted. He did not care about keeping anything from his father — especially something of which his approval was dubious. Still, all's fair and honourable in love — or love makes it seem so.