The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories

It was in this way that I first heard of Jane Haworth. Later, I was to meet her - twice. I was to hear details of her life from one of her most intimate friends. I was to learn much from Alan Everard himself. Now that they are both dead, I think it is time to contradict some of the stories Mrs. Lemprière is busily spreading abroad. Call some of my story invention if you will - it is not far from the truth.

When the guests had left, Alan Everard turned the portrait of Jane Haworth with its face to the wall again. Isobel came down the room and stood beside him.

"A success, do you think?" she asked thoughtfully. "Or - not quite a success?"

"The portrait?" he asked quickly.

"No, silly, the party. Of course the portrait's a success."

"It's the best thing I've done," Everard declared aggressively.

"We're getting on," said Isobel. "Lady Charmington wants you to paint her."

"Oh, Lord!" He frowned. "I'm not a fashionable portrait painter, you know."

"You will be. You'll get to the top of the tree."

"That's not the tree I want to get to the top of."

"But, Alan dear, that's the way to make mints of money."

"Who wants mints of money?"

"Perhaps I do," she said smiling.

At once he felt apologetic, ashamed. If she had not married him she could have had her mints of money. And she needed it. A certain amount of luxury was her proper setting.

"We've not done so badly just lately," he said wistfully.

"No, indeed; but the bills are coming in rather fast."

Bills - always bills!

He walked up and down.

"Oh, hang it! I don't want to paint Lady Charmington," he burst out, rather like a petulant child.

Isobel smiled a little. She stood by the fire without moving. Alan stopped his restless pacing and came nearer to her. What was there in her, in her stillness, her inertia, that drew him - drew him like a magnet? How beautiful she was - her arms like sculptured white marble, the pure gold of her hair, her lips - red, full lips.

He kissed them - felt them fasten on his own. Did anything else matter? What was there in Isobel that soothed you, that took all your cares from you? She drew you into her own beautiful inertia and held you there, quiet and content. Poppy and mandragora; you drifted there, on a dark lake, asleep.

"I'll do Lady Charmington," he said presently. "What does it matter? I shall be bored - but after all, painters must eat. There's Mr. Pots the painter, Mrs. Pots the painter's wife, and Miss Pots the painter's daughter - all needing sustenance."

"Absurd boy!" said Isobel. "Talking of our daughter - you ought to go and see Jane some time. She was here yesterday, and said she hadn't seen you for months."

"Jane was here?"

"Yes - to see Winnie."

Alan brushed Winnie aside.

"Did she see the picture of you?"

"Yes."

"What did she think of it?"

"She said it was splendid."

"Oh!"

He frowned, lost in thought.

"Mrs. Lemprière suspects you of a guilty passion for Jane, I think," remarked lsobel. "Her nose twitched a good deal."

"That woman!" said Alan, with deep disgust. "That woman! What wouldn't she think? What doesn't she think?"

"Well, I don't think," said Isobel, smiling. "So go on and see Jane soon."

Alan looked across at her. She was sitting now on a low couch by the fire. Her face was half turned away, the smile still lingered on her lips. And at that moment he felt bewildered, confused, as though a mist had formed round him, and suddenly parting, had given him a glimpse into a strange country.

Something said to him: "Why does she want you to go and see Jane? There's a reason." Because with Isobel, there was bound to be a reason. There was no impulse in Isobel, only calculation.

"Do you like Jane?" he asked suddenly.

"She's a dear," said Isobel.

"Yes, but do you really like her?"

"Of course. She's so devoted to Winnie. By the way, she wants to carry Winnie off to the seaside next week. You don't mind, do you? It will leave us free for Scotland."

"It will be extraordinarily convenient."

It would, indeed, be just that. Extraordinarily convenient. He looked across at Isobel with a sudden suspicion. Had she asked Jane? Jane was so easily imposed upon.

Isobel got up and went out of the room, humming to herself. Oh, well, it didn't matter. Anyway, he would go and see Jane.

Jane Haworth lived at the top of a block of mansion flats overlooking Battersea Park. When Everard had climbed four flights of stairs and pressed the bell, he felt annoyed with Jane. Why couldn't she live somewhere more get-at-able? When, not having obtained an answer, he had pressed the bell three times, his annoyance had grown greater. Why couldn't she keep someone capable of answering the door?

Suddenly it opened, and Jane herself stood in the doorway. She was flushed.

"Where's Alice?" asked Everard, without any attempt at greeting.

"Well, I'm afraid - I mean - she's not well today."

"Drink, you mean?" said Everard grimly.

What a pity that Jane was such an inveterate liar.

"I suppose that's it," said Jane reluctantly.

"Let me see her."