Casanova's Chinese Restaurant - Anthony Powell [72]
‘Nick,’ he said, ‘come and talk to Amy.’
‘Just hold this cabinet steady for a moment, both of you,’ said Lord Huntercombe. ‘There … it’s coming … that’s done it. Thank you very much.’
‘I say, Lord Huntercombe,’ said Chandler, ‘I did simply worship those cut-glass candelabra you lent to that exhibition the other day. I am going to suggest to the producer of the show I’m in rehearsal for that we try and get the effect of something of that sort in the Second Act – instead of the dreary old pewter candlesticks we are now using.’
‘I do not think the Victoria and Albert would mind possessing those candelabra,’ said Lord Huntercombe with complacency, at the same time abstracting some of the pieces from the cabinet. ‘Ah, the Marcolini Period. I thought as much. And here are some lndianische Blumen.’
We moved politely away from Lord Huntercombe’s immediate area, leaving him in peace to pursue further researches.
‘My dear,’ said Chandler, speaking in a lower voice, ‘Amy is rather worried about Charles turning up like this. She thought that, as an old friend of his, you might be able to persuade him to go quietly home after a time. He is a sweet boy, but in the state he is in you never know what he is going to do next.’
‘It is ages since I saw Charles. We met tonight for the first time for years. I doubt if he would take the slightest notice of anything I said. As a matter of fact he has just gone off with Mrs Maclintick to whom he is paying what used to be called marked attentions.’
‘That is one of the things Amy is worried about. Amy has an eye like a hawk, you know.’
I was certainly surprised to hear that Mrs Foxe had taken in the circumstances of the party so thoroughly as even to have included Mrs Maclintick in her survey. As a hostess, she gave no impression of observing the room meticulously (at least not with the implication of fear pedantic use of that term implies), nor did she seem in the smallest degree disturbed when we came up to her.
‘Oh, Mr Jenkins,’ she said, ‘dear Charles has arrived, as you know since you have been talking to him. I thought you would not mind if I asked you to keep the smallest eye on him. His nerves are so bad nowadays. You have known him for such a long time. He is much more likely to agree to anything you suggest than to fall in with what I want him to do. He really ought not to stay up too late. It is not good for him.’
She said no more than that; gave no hint she required Stringham’s immediate removal. That was just as well, because I should have had no idea how to set about any such dislodgement. I remembered suddenly that the last time a woman had appealed to me for help in managing Stringham was when, at her own party years before, Mrs Andriadis had said: ‘Will you persuade him to stay?’ Then it was his mistress; now, his mother. Mrs Foxe had been too discreet to say outright: ‘Will you persuade him to go?’ None the less, that was what she must have desired. Her discrimination in expressing this wish, her manner of putting herself into my hands, made her as successful as Mrs Andriadis in enlisting my sympathy; but no more effective as an ally. It was hard to see what could be done about Stringham. Besides, I had by then begun to learn – what I had no idea of at Mrs Andriadis’s party – that to people like Stringham there is really no answer.
‘Don’t worry, Amy, darling,’ said Chandler. ‘Charles is perfectly all right for the time being. Don’t feel anxious. Nick and I will keep an eye on him.’
‘Will you? It would be so awful if something did go wrong. I should feel so guilty if the Morelands’ party were spoiled for them.’
‘It won’t be.’
‘I shall rely on you both.’
She gazed at Chandler with deep affection. They might have been married for years from the manner in which they talked to one another. Some people came up to say goodbye. I saw Isobel, and was about to suggest that we should look for Stringham, when Mrs Foxe turned from the couple to whom she had been talking.
‘Isobel, my dear,’ she said, ‘I haven’t seen you all the evening. Come and sit on the sofa. There are some things I want to ask you about.