The Big Drum Part 2

[_Hastily._] She has got rid of her house in Paris and rejoined her people. She's with them in Ennismore Gardens.

PHILIP.

Thank you, I'm aware of it. One reads of Ottoline's movements in every rag one picks up. [_Walking over to the right._] She's the biggest _cha.s.seuse_ of the crowd.

ROOPE.

I a.s.sure you she appears very much altered.

PHILIP.

What, can the leopard change his spots!

ROOPE.

Her family may still bang the big drum occasionally, and give it an extra whack on _her_ account; but Ottoline herself----

PHILIP.

Faugh! [_Returning to_ ROOPE.] Why the devil have you done this?

ROOPE.

[_Feebly._] I confess, in the hope of bringing about a reconciliation.

PHILIP.

You--you good-natured old meddler. [_Quickly._] Does she expect to find me here?

ROOPE.

No.

PHILIP.

[_Making for the door on the left._] I'll bolt, then.

ROOPE.

[_Rising and seizing him._] You shall do nothing of the kind. [_Forcing him down upon the fauteuil-stool._] You'll upset my luncheon-table!

[_Tidying himself._] You're most inconsiderate; you are positively. And you've disarranged my necktie.

PHILIP.

[_In a low voice._] How is she looking, Robbie?

ROOPE.

Brilliant. [_Putting his necktie in order._] Is that straight?

Brilliant.

PHILIP.

[_Gazing into s.p.a.ce._] Ten years ago, old man!

ROOPE.

Quite.

PHILIP.

It was at her father and mother's, in Paris, that I made _your_ acquaintance. Recollect?

ROOPE.

Perfectly; in the Avenue Montaigne. I had a flat in the Palais-Royal at the time.

PHILIP.

[_Scornfully._] You were one of the smart set. It was worth their while to get hold of _you_.

ROOPE.

My dear Phil, do be moderately fair. _You_ weren't in the smart set.

PHILIP.

No; I was trying my hand at journalism in those days. Dreadful trade! I was Paris correspondent to the _Whitehall Gazette_. That's why _I_ was favoured. [_Abruptly._] Robbie----

ROOPE.

Hey?

PHILIP.

You'll scarcely credit it. One evening, while I was at work, Ottoline turned up with her maid at my lodgings in the Rue Soufflot, sent the maid out of the room, and proposed that I should "mention" her family in my letters to the _Whitehall_.

ROOPE.

Mention them?

PHILIP.

Drag in allusions to 'em constantly--their entertainments and so forth; boom them, in fact.

ROOPE.

Was that the cause of the--the final----?