Then she sat down and wrote to her son--she was not even going to the
opera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite,
she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintive
frown on her face.
If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother,
she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondale
was no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his own
way, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of.
These visits to Paris--his antipathy to matrimony--his boredom with
girls--such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him
with!--his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible
countries--and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella
Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts
Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted
several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. But
Morella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous property
adjoining Bracondale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemished
reputation, nice looking, and not--not one of those modern women who are
bound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count upon
Morella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to be
a mother-in-law's joy.
But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openly
defied his mother--he simply made love to her whenever they were
together, twisted her round his finger, and was off again.
"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight.
Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sits
there beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat with
new kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman,
caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything she
says, and does absolutely what he pleases!"
Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were in
love with him jealous.
When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it over
carefully--she had a certain tact, and Hector must be cajoled to return,
not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgarity
which she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She had
been getting really anxious over this affair with the--French person.
Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms which
usually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres.
Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringing
that disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns--of
such a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond!