The Wedding Dress (8 page)

“
But,
”
she was more disappointed than she could have said,
“
there is no dress!
—
No complete design.
”

He laughed.

“
The design,
ma
chère
,
is here.
”
He tapped his forehead.
“
And I assure you it is complete. I found what I wanted in the last three minutes. Go now and enjoy your lunch. What is his name, by the way?
”

“
His
—
name, monsieur? Philip,
”
she admitted reluctantly, because there seemed no possible way of telling her employer to mind his own business.

“
Philippe?
”
He repeated the name thoughtfully, giving it its French version.
“
Does your guardian know him?
”

“
My
—
guardian?
”
She gasped. But this was really too much, and she found the courage to say,
“
Forgive me, monsieur, but
—
but is that your business?
”

“
I forgive you absolutely,
mon enfant,
”
replied the famous designer, with a good deal of amusement.
“
My wife tells me I am inordinately inquisitive, though I call it taking an intelligent interest in my staff. However
—p
erhaps she is right, so Monsieur Philippe shall be allowed to retain his aura of mystery. Now go. But on no account be late for this afternoon’s show.
”

“
Oh, no, monsieur,
”
promised Loraine fervently, and she hurried away, faintly disturbed by the curious conviction that if Florian put himself out he could discover almost anything he wanted.

In spite of everything, she emerged from the dress house as the nearby church clock struck a quarter to one, and Philip waved to her from a car parked at the curb, and exclaimed, as she slipped in beside him:

“
Hallo, sweet child! You’re a model of punctuality.
”

“
I very nearly wasn’t,
”
she told him, with a breathless little laugh.
“
Florian was designing on me, and I was terrified he wouldn’t finish in time.
”

“
I should have waited, you know.
”
Philip gave her a smiling, affectionate glance as he started the car.
“
It would have taken a lot to make me miss this meeting, Loraine.
”
Less than five minutes’ driving brought them to a small, quiet restaurant, where he had a corner table reserved, and a swift attentive waiter to take care of their every want. And Loraine relaxed, with a sigh of Contentment, impressed and charmed all over again that Philip always seemed able to make everything easy and enjoyable.

But, once their meal was ordered, relaxation was at an end, for he smiled full at her and said:

“
Now tell me everything. I want the full story of the transformation of my little schoolgirl friend into a Paris mannequin.
”

So, with an air of smiling candor which concealed a good deal of anxious thought, Loraine proceeded to give him a fairly comprehensive account of what had happened since her father’s death.

It was not, of course, an impromptu effort. Ever since, he had given the invitation the previous afternoon she had been working out, at intervals, what she should say to him when he asked the inevitable questions. And, without telling any actual untruth, she managed to lay much stress on the contact with Marianne and Roger Senloe,
which had led to her engagement by Florian, while any reference to the guardian left him as a very shadowy and impersonal force in the background.

Then, as soon as she had brought Philip up to date with her affairs, and before he could ask any awkward additional questions, she said:

“
And now it’s your turn! I’ve done all the talking. You must tell me your news too.
”

“
I don’t know that I have very much
—
in comparison with your fantastic story.
”
He smiled.

“
Oh, Philip, of course you have! You told me at the Opera. You’re engaged, aren’t you?
”

“
Well, yes
—
I’m engaged,
”
he agreed, still smiling.

“
Tell me about her,
”
Loraine urged.

“
She’s fair
—
and very lovely, and her name is Elinor Roye,
”
he said obligingly.

“
And when are you going to be
—
married, Philip?
”

“
We haven’t really decided yet. We’ve been engaged only a matter of weeks, you know. We haven’t been able to agree yet on where we shall live after we’re married.
”

She wondered if that particular wording implied some degree of argument. But she said, with an air of friendly interest:

“
Do you mean that you don’t know whether to make it England or France?
”

“Exactly. I’d like to live here in Paris—”

“Oh. Philip, would you?” She was half scared, half enchanted by the thought of him indefinitely in the same city as herself, whatever the future might hold.

“Yes. I find it artistically stimulating and professionally rewarding. In addition”—he laughed a little vexedly
—“
I don’t need to tell you, Loraine, that I have a very
charming, clever, and altogether delightful mama—”

“
Of course.
”

“
But an incurably interfering one too.
”

“
Oh,
”
said Loraine, and she felt a nervous little flutter in her throat which made it difficult to say more.

“
To be frank, she doesn’t really like the idea of my marrying at all,
”
Philip went on.
“
The only thing which would have reconciled her to the idea would have been more or less to have chosen the girl herself. She’s much too
civilized and clever to
say
anything, of course, and we amiably avoid all argument. But if
—
when I start married life, it might be wiser to have the Channel between me and my charming parent, much though I love her.
”

“
I
—
see.
”
Loraine tried to look deeply concerned and innocently unknowing at the same time. An almost impossible feat.

“
You needn’t look so solemn.
”
He laughed lightly.
“
These things have a way of solving themselves.
”

“
Yes
—
I suppose so. Have you
—
explained the position to your
fiancée
?
”

“
Well, no, Loraine. No girl wants to be told that her future mother-in-law resents her and that it would be advisable to give her a wide berth for a while.
”

“
Oh
—
no. And yet, for her part, she
—
your
fiancée
”
—
somehow Loraine could not bring herself to say Elinor’s name
—
“
prefers to live in England?
”

“
At least she is anxious not to settle in Paris.
”

“
For any special reason?
”

“
Well
—
yes. The fact is, Loraine, that she was engaged to another fellow before she met me. He took the break extremely badly, and I think she would find it profoundly embarrassing if our two circles tended to cross.
”

“
Perhaps
”
—
Loraine was astonished to hear herself say coldly
—
“
she feels that she treated him rather badly.
”

“
I don’t think so.
”
Philip sounded almost careless about that.
“
It was just a case of finding that she preferred someone else and having to tell him so.
”

“
Regretfully?
”
inquired Loraine, with quite unusual irony.

“
Regretfully, I don’t doubt.
”
Philip still spoke as though they were discussing an unimportant aspect of the question.
“
These things are always difficult and upsetting.
”

“
Particularly for the one who loses.
”

“
Well, of course,
”
Philip agreed, with an easy laugh.
“
But I don’t think you need shed any tears over Paul Cardine. He’s a pretty tough nut.
”

“
He’s nothing of the sort! He’s a very nice person,
”
exclaimed Loraine indignantly
—
and then sat there staring at an astonished Philip, wondering what on earth had induced her to endanger her relationship with the man she really loved, in order to fly to her guardian’s defence in this inexplicable fashion.

“
Why, Loraine
—
”
Philip sounded amused, annoyed
and wholly astounded.
“
You dark little horse! What do
you
know about Paul Cardine, for heaven’s sake?
”

“
I’ve
—
met him more than once.
”
She made a tremendous effort to retrieve the position.
“
And I like what I know of him. He was a friend of Roger Senloe’s. I met several people in their circle, you kno
w
, before they married and went to Vienna.
”

“
And, of all people, there had to be Paul Cardine among them!
”
He gave a vexed little laugh.

“
But we don’t need to quarrel over that, do we, Philip?
”
she said anxiously.

“
We’re not going to quarrel over anything, so far as I’m concerned,
”
he assured her.

“
And it isn’t necessary for us to
—
well, to enlarge on the subject when I meet
—
if I meet your
fiancée
?
”

“
Certainly not! And of course you’ll be meeting Elinor
—
and quite soon. We’re going to see a lot of you in the next few weeks. Which reminds me
”
—
he took out a pocket diary and flicked over the pages
—
“
Mother suggested I should fix you up for dinner and a show some time early next week. How about Monday? I’ll bring Elinor along and you can meet each other.
”

Loraine said that would be lovely, and if she privately excluded the meeting with Elinor from that general expression of approval, he was not to know.

When he parted from her again, outside the Florian boutique, he said:

“
It’s wonderful having you around again, little Loraine. We must do this often.
”

And, if she had little time during the afternoon to think in detail about her personal affairs, those last remarks of his remained with her, to warm and cheer a somewhat anxious heart.

On the way home, however, as she walked through the early evening sunshine, she made a determined effort to review the rather tangled state of her personal relationships.

At first she felt inclined to congratulate herself on the way she had extricated herself from a very awkward situation with Philip. It had been ridiculous of her to rush to Paul’s defence like that, inevitably disclosing the one connection it was vital to hide. But at least she had retrieved the position well. Or so it seemed to her.

But then, as she looked farther ahead, she had to admit that she had put herself in a very false position. It was one thing to make little of her guardian’s part in her life. It was quite another to suppress the fact that he was the very man Philip was talking about. Particularly as Philip must inevitably find out the deception eventually.