The Painted Veil (7 page)

23

She looked at him blankly. What he said was so unexpected that at the first moment she could hardly gather its sense.

‘What on earth are you talking about?’ she faltered.

Even to herself her reply rang false, and she saw the look of disdain which it called forth on Walter’s stern face.

‘I’m afraid you’ve thought me a bigger fool than I am.’ She did not quite know what to say. She was undecided whether indignantly to assert her innocence or to break out into angry reproaches. He seemed to read her thoughts.

‘I’ve got all the proof necessary.’

She began to cry. The tears flowed from her eyes without any particular anguish and she did not dry them: to weep gave her a little time to collect herself. But her mind was blank. He watched her without concern, and his calmness frightened her. He grew impatient.

‘You’re not going to do much good by crying, you know.’

His voice, so cold and hard, had the effect of exciting in her a certain indignation. She was recovering her nerve.

‘I don’t care. I suppose you have no objection to my divorcing you. It means nothing to a man.’

‘Will you allow me to ask why I should put myself to the smallest inconvenience on your account?’

‘It can’t make any difference to you. It’s not much to ask you to behave like a gentleman.’

‘I have much too great a regard for your welfare.’

She sat up now and dried her eyes.

‘What
do
you mean?’ she asked him.

‘Townsend will marry you only if he is corespondent and the case is so shameless that his wife is forced to divorce him.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she cried.

‘You stupid fool.’

His tone was so contemptuous that she flushed with anger. And perhaps her anger was greater because she had never before heard him say to her any but sweet, flattering and delightful things. She had been accustomed to find him subservient to all her whims.

‘If you want the truth you can have it. He’s only too anxious to marry me. Dorothy Townsend is perfectly willing to divorce him and we shall be married the moment we’re free.’

‘Did he tell you that in so many words or is that the impression you have gained from his manner?’

Walter’s eyes shone with bitter mockery. They made Kitty a trifle uneasy. She was not quite sure that Charlie had ever said exactly that in so many words.

‘He said it over and over again.’

‘That’s a lie and you know it’s a lie.’

‘He loves me with all his heart and soul. He loves me as passionately as I love him. You’ve found out. I’m not going to deny anything. Why should I? We’ve been lovers for a year and I’m proud of it. He means everything in the world to me and I’m glad that you know at last. We’re sick to death of secrecy and compromise and all the rest of it. It was a mistake that I ever married you, I never should have done it, I was a fool. I never cared for you. We never had anything in common. I don’t like the people you like and I’m bored by the things that interest you. I’m thankful it’s finished.’

He watched her without a gesture and without a movement of his face. He listened attentively and no change in his expression showed that what she said affected him.

‘Do you know why I married you?’

‘Because you wanted to be married before your sister Doris.’

It was true, but it gave her a funny little turn to realise that he knew it. Oddly enough, even in that moment of fear and anger, it excited her compassion. He faintly smiled.

‘I had no illusions about you,’ he said. ‘I knew you were silly and frivolous and empty-headed. But I loved you. I knew that your aims and ideals were vulgar and common-place. But I loved you. I knew that you were second-rate. But I loved you. It’s comic when I think how hard I tried to be amused by the things that amused you and how anxious I was to hide from you that I wasn’t ignorant and vulgar and scandal-mongering and stupid. I knew how frightened you were of intelligence and I did everything I could to make you think me as big a fool as the rest of the men you knew. I knew that you’d only married me for convenience. I loved you so much, I didn’t care. Most people, as far as I can see, when they’re in love with some one and the love isn’t returned feel that they have a grievance. They grow angry and bitter. I wasn’t like that. I never expected you to love me, I didn’t see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable. I was thankful to be allowed to love you and I was enraptured when now and then I thought you were pleased with me or when I noticed in your eyes a gleam of good-humoured affection. I tried not to bore you with my love; I knew I couldn’t afford to do that and I was always on the lookout for the first sign that you were impatient with my affection. What most husbands expect as a right I was prepared to receive as a favour.’

Kitty, accustomed to flattery all her life, had never heard such things said to her before. Blind wrath, driving out fear, arose in her heart: it seemed to choke her, and she felt the blood-vessels in her temples swell and throb. Wounded vanity can make a woman more vindictive than a lioness robbed of her cubs. Kitty’s jaw, always a little too square, protruded with an apish hideousness and her beautiful eyes were black with malice. But she kept her temper in check.

‘If a man hasn’t what’s necessary to make a woman love him, it’s his fault, not hers.’

‘Evidently.’

His derisive tone increased her irritation. She felt that she could wound him more by maintaining her calm.

‘I’m not very well-educated and I’m not very clever. I’m just a perfectly ordinary young woman. I like the things that the people like among whom I’ve lived all my life. I like dancing and tennis and theatres and I like the men who play games. It’s quite true that I’ve always been bored by you and by the things you like. They mean nothing to me and I don’t want them to. You dragged me round those interminable galleries in Venice: I should have enjoyed myself much more playing golf at Sandwich.’

‘I know.’

‘I’m sorry if I haven’t been all that you expected me to be. Unfortunately I always found you physically repulsive. You can hardly blame me for that.’

‘I don’t.’

Kitty could more easily have coped with the situation if he had raved and stormed. She could have met violence with violence. His self-control was inhuman and she hated him now as she had never hated him before.

‘I don’t think you’re a man at all. Why didn’t you break into the room when you knew I was there with Charlie? You might at least have tried to thrash him. Were you afraid?’

But the moment she had said this she flushed, for she was ashamed. He did not answer, but in his eyes she read an icy disdain. The shadow of a smile flickered on his lips.

‘It may be that, like a historical character, I am too proud to fight.’

Kitty, unable to think of anything to answer, shrugged her shoulders. For a moment longer he held her in his immobile gaze.

‘I think I’ve said all I had to say: if you refuse to come to Meitan-fu I shall file my petition.’

‘Why won’t you consent to let me divorce you?’

He took his eyes off her at last. He leaned back in his chair and lit a cigarette. He smoked it to the end without saying a word. Then, throwing away the butt, he gave a little smile. He looked at her once more.

‘If Mrs. Townsend will give me her assurance that she will divorce her husband and if he will give me his written promise to marry you within a week of the two decrees being made absolute, I will do that.’

There was something in the way he spoke which disconcerted her. But her self-respect obliged her to accept his offer in the grand manner.

‘That is very generous of you, Walter.’

To her astonishment he burst suddenly into a shout of laughter. She flushed angrily.

‘What are you laughing at? I see nothing to laugh at.’

‘I beg your pardon. I daresay my sense of humour is peculiar.’

She looked at him frowning. She would have liked to say something bitter and wounding, but no rejoinder occurred to her. He looked at his watch.

‘You had better look sharp if you want to catch Townsend at his office. If you decide to come with me to Meitan-fu it would be necessary to start the day after tomorrow.’

‘Do you want me to tell him to-day?’

‘They say there is no time like the present.’

Her heart began to beat a little faster. It was not uneasiness that she felt, it was, she didn’t quite know what it was. She wished she could have had a little longer; she would have liked to prepare Charlie. But she had the fullest confidence in him, he loved her as much as she loved him, and it was treacherous even to let the thought cross her mind that he would not welcome the necessity that was forced upon them. She turned to Walter gravely.

‘I don’t think you know what love is. You have no conception how desperately in love Charlie and I are with one another. It really is the only thing that matters and every sacrifice that our love calls for will be as easy as falling off a log.’

He gave a little bow, but said nothing, and his eyes followed her as she walked with measured step from the room.

24

She sent in a little note to Charlie on which she had written:
‘Please see me. It is urgent.’
A Chinese boy asked her to wait and brought the answer that Mr. Townsend would see her in five minutes. She was unaccountably nervous. When at last she was ushered into his room Charlie came forward to shake hands with her, but the moment the boy, having closed the door, left them alone he dropped the affable formality of his manner.

‘I say, my dear, you really mustn’t come her in working hours. I’ve got an awful lot to do and we don’t want to give people a chance to gossip.’

She gave him a long look with those beautiful eyes of her and tried to smile, but her lips were stiff and she could not.

‘I wouldn’t have come unless it was necessary.’

He smiled and took her arm.

‘Well, since you’re here come and sit down.’

It was a bare room, narrow, with a high ceiling; its walls were painted in two shades of terra cotta. The only furniture consisted of a large desk, a revolving chair for Townsend to sit in and a leather arm-chair for visitors. It intimidated Kitty to sit in this. He sat at the desk. She had never seen him in spectacles before; she did not know that he used them. When he noticed that her eyes were on them he took them off.

‘I only use them for reading,’ he said.

Her tears came easily and now, she hardly knew why, she began to cry. She had no deliberate intention of deceiving, but rather an instinctive desire to excite his sympathy. He looked at her blankly.

‘Is anything the matter? Oh, my dear, don’t cry.’

She took out her handkerchief and tried to check her sobs. He rang the bell and when the boy came to the door went to it.

‘If any one asks for me say I’m out.’

‘Very good, sir.’

The boy closed the door. Charlie sat on the arm of the chair and put his arm round Kitty’s shoulders.

‘Now, Kitty dear, tell me all about it.’

‘Walter wants a divorce,’ she said.

She felt the pressure of his arm on her shoulder cease. His body stiffened. There was a moment’s silence, then Townsend rose from her chair and sat down once more in his.

‘What exactly do you mean?’ he said.

She looked at him quickly, for his voice was hoarse, and she saw that his face was dully red.

‘I’ve had a talk with him. I’ve come straight from the house now. He says he has all the proof he wants.’

‘You didn’t commit yourself, did you? You didn’t acknowledge anything?’

Her heart sank.

‘No,’ she answered.

‘Are you quite sure?’ he asked, looking at her sharply.

‘Quite sure,’ she lied again.

He leaned back in his chair and stared vacantly at the map of China which was hanging on the wall in front of him. She watched him anxiously. She was somewhat disconcerted at the manner in which he had received the news. She had expected him to take her in his arms and tell her he was thankful, for now they could be together always; but of course men were funny. She was crying softly, not now to arouse sympathy, but because it seemed the natural thing to do.

‘This is a bloody mess we’ve got into,’ he said at length. ‘But it’s no good losing our heads. Crying isn’t going to do us any good, you know.’

She noticed the irritation in his voice and dried her eyes.

‘It’s not my fault, Charlie. I couldn’t help it.’

‘Of course you couldn’t. It was just damned bad luck. I was just as much to blame as you were. The thing to do now is to see how we’re going to get out of it. I don’t suppose you want to be divorced any more than I do.’

She smothered a gasp. She gave him a searching look. He was not thinking of her at all.

‘I wonder what his proofs really are. I don’t know how he can actually prove that we were together in that room. On the whole we’ve been about as careful as any one could be. I’m sure that old fellow at the curio shop wouldn’t have given us away. Even if he’d seen us go in there’s not reason why we shouldn’t hunt curios together.’

He was talking to himself rather than to her.

‘It’s easy enough to bring charges, but it’s damned difficult to prove them; any lawyer will tell you that. Our line is to deny everything, and if he threatens to bring an action we’ll tell him to go to hell and we’ll fight it.’

‘I couldn’t go into court, Charlie.’

‘Why on earth not? I’m afraid you’ll have to. God knows, I don’t want a row, but we can’t take it lying down.’

‘Why need we defend it?’

‘What a question to ask. After all, it’s not only you that are concerned, I’m concerned too. But as a matter of fact I don’t think you need be afraid of that. We shall be able to square your husband somehow. The only thing that worries me is the best way to set about it.’

It looked as though an idea occurred to him, for he turned towards her with his charming smile and his tone, a moment before abrupt and business-like, became ingratiating.

‘I’m afraid you’ve been awfully upset, poor little woman. It’s too bad.’ He stretched out his hand and took hers. ‘It’s a scrape we’ve got into, but we shall get out of it. It’s not...’ He stopped and Kitty had a suspicion that he had been about to say that it was not the first he had got out of. ‘The greatest thing is to keep our heads. You know I shall never let you down.’

‘I’m not frightened. I don’t care what he does.’

He smiled still, but perhaps his smile was a trifle forced.

‘If the worst comes to the worst I shall have to tell the Governor. He’ll curse me like hell, but he’s a good fellow and a man of the world. He’ll fix it up somehow. It wouldn’t do him any good if there was a scandal.’

‘What can he do?’ asked Kitty.

‘He can bring pressure to bear on Walter. If he can’t get at him through his ambition he’ll get at him through his sense of duty.’

Kitty was a little chilled. She did not seem able to make Charlie see how desperately grave the situation was. His airiness made her impatient. She was sorry that she had come to see him in his office. The surroundings intimidated her. It would have been much easier to say what she wanted if she could have been in his arms with hers round his neck.

‘You don’t know Walter,’ she said.

‘I know that every man has his price.’

She loved Charlie with all her heart, but his reply disconcerted her; for such a clever man it was a stupid thing to say.

‘I don’t think you realise how angry Walter is. You haven’t seen his face and the look of his eyes.’

He did not reply for a moment, but looked at her with a slight smile. She knew what he was thinking. Walter was the bacteriologist and occupied a subordinate position; he would hardly have the impudence to make himself a nuisance to the upper officials of the Colony.

‘It’s no good deceiving yourself, Charlie,’ she said earnestly. ‘If Walter has made up his mind to bring an action nothing that you or anybody else can say will have the slightest influence.’

His face once more grew heavy and sulky.

‘Is it his idea to make me correspondent?’

‘At first it was. At last I managed to get him to consent to let me divorce him.’

‘Oh, well, that’s not so terrible.’ His manner relaxed again and she saw the relief in his eyes. ‘That seems to me a very good way out. After all, it’s the least a man can do, it’s the only decent thing.’

‘But he makes a condition.’

He gave her an inquiring glance and he seemed to reflect.

‘Of course I’m not a very rich man, but I’ll do anything in my power.’

Kitty was silent. Charlie was saying things which she would never have expected him to say. And they made it difficult for her to speak. She had expected to blurt it out in one breath, held in his loving arms, with her burning face hid on his breast.

‘He agrees to my divorcing him if your wife will give him the assurance that she will divorce you.’

‘Anything else?’

Kitty could hardly find her voice.

‘And – it’s awfully hard to say, Charlie, it sounds dreadful– if you’ll promise to marry me within a week of the decrees being made absolute.’