The skit began. The actor began to confide to the men about his wife. Lucie didn't understand half of what he said, but she saw Joshua smile with real amusement. She kept her eyes on Joshua, who was sitting almost sideways to her. Then the man on the stage finally broke off his harangue and started to sing. He kept gesturing to the pretty girl.
"Judy leads me such a life. The devil never had such a wife. How can I sing a funny song; She's mocking me all day long, what can the matter be?"
It was a catchy tune and Lucie's thought followed it the second time he sang it. "What can the matter be?" She saw he was leaving the center of the stage and coming right over to their box. He smiled and sang:
"Barney, leave the girls alone, Why don't you leave the girls alone. And let them quiet be?"
The audience stamped and yelled. Lucie caught the general enthusiasm and wanted to stamp and shout too. In the midst of this Barney got to his feet and bowed. As he sat down again the girl came over to the box. She was giving orders in song to her husband.
"Put the muffins down to roast. Blow the fire! Make the toast! We'll have tea!"
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Then she turned to Barney. She sang:
"Barney, you're a wicked boy, And you do always play and toy with all the gals you see. Why don't you leave the girls alone?"
Barney grinned. She was singing right to him, very close, and he reached in his pocket and brought out a gold piece; he tossed it to her and she caught it in her skirt, revealing slim silk-stockinged legs. The audience shouted approval.
"Do it again, Barney!"
Douglass held her handkerchief daintily to her nose. Barney fished out another handful of coins and started to pitch them, deliberately tossing them high. The crowd yelled louder, and finally Barney spread his hands to show they were empty.
"You'll beggar me, lads." He waved his hands and spoke to the girl. "Give them a free show, Judy!"
She pirouetted and her skirts went high. "Little bitch," Douglass said under her breath. Aloud she said, "My fan, Lucie."
Startled, Lucie found her voice. "Oui, madame." She handed Douglass the fan, and armed with it, Douglass remarked:
"Judy's knock-kneed, I do believe."
Barney laughed. He said over Douglass' head to Joshua, "I forgot for a moment we had a lady with us."
"Would you like us to leave?" Douglass inquired haughtily.
Barney said, "Why, no. We can return later."
Joshua heard this and dissolved into laughter. The audience had now joined in the chorus. Barney leaned close to Douglass. "Are you knock-kneed?"
Douglass snapped her fan to and raised it. "No!" she said.
Barney grinned and settled back in his chair. "An important issue resolved," he murmured.
Douglass opened the fan again and regarded him thoughtfully over it; the curtains had closed; the skit was over. She smiled at Barney. "It was fun," she said.
But she was very quiet and thoughtful as the play went on. She heard practically nothing of it. She used her fan slowly, her eyes on the stage, on Barney. She saw Joshua shift in his chair and look sideways at Lucie, look at her long. She didn't dare interfere more than she had done; he'd been annoyed enough that she had even men-
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tioned Lucie to him. Damn him, she thought, he's such a handsome devil; she bit her Hp and remembered the words of the song. She would like to comb his head with a three-legged stool, and quite unaware Joshua turned his attention back to the stage again.
Barney seemed to be engrossed in the play. She thought that probably he always gave whole-hearted enthusiasm to whatever he was doing. She was content to sit there beside him, just knowing he was there, and to catch his eye once in a while and to smile. But —she suddenly told herself to stop speculating; she remembered vividly, as though it were being enacted, the first time she had ever seen him, standing there in the dusty prison yard.
On the way home she listened to Barney tell Joshua that Humphreys and the privateer "Black Prince" had come in this afternoon, shot up a bit. "She was lucky to have escaped; she ran up Wilmington creek. A frigate of the 'Triton' class was after her."
"I have dined aboard the 'Triton,' " Douglass said idly.
A gust of wind shook the coach. "Sou'easter blowing up," Barney said. Rain sounded on the windows, hard, as the carriage stopped.
They ran into the house. "I must say Philadelphia weather is as bad as ours," Douglass said, breathless.
Lucie took her cloak. "Did you like it, Lucie?" Douglass asked.
Lucie nodded, eyes shining. "Oui, madame!" A vivid smile lighted her face; it was so lovely a smile Douglass glanced at Joshua. He actually looked a little bemused; then he said, "Excuse me please a moment." He started upstairs.
Douglass turned to Barney. "Won't you stay for supper?" He had followed her into the long drawing room; he looked around appreciatively.
"I wish I could," he answered.
Once more she felt her assurance leave her, when they were thus alone. "You cannot stay?" she repeated, moving away from him toward the fire. "You always leave me. Captain," she said suddenly, surprising herself with the words.
But he understood. He frowned slightly, and, looked at her. "Yes," he said. "I'm a sailor." He walked over and touched the ivory keys of the clavichord. "I've always wanted to be able to play one of these. Do you play?"
"Yes, Barney," she said, low.
He looked up from the keys. "I bought a parcel of land today. On the river, up a few miles. I have plenty of money again." He smiled
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a little. "The prizes were valuable. I want to build a house there; a house like this."
"You won't be able to enjoy it much," Douglass said. "Will you?"
"No. But I come home."
She said, "Joshua told me about—" She stopped. "What will you do?"
He shrugged. "I've been seriously considering either returning to France, or else joining Marion and his guerillas in the South. One or the other."
"You wouldn't stay here?" She put her hands out to him, in an appealing gesture.
"No, madam." The negative was firm and absolute.
A bit of the gay tune she had heard tonight came back to her. "Barney, leave the girls alone, and let them quiet be." He was coming toward her and she turned away from him.
He took her by the shoulders. "Is this a propitious time to ask you to drive out with me tomorrow afternoon?"
"No, sir," said Douglass. "I must take tea with Miss Goodenough tomorrow. Won't you join us?"
She laughed at the expression on his face. "I hate tea, English."
"It will be four shilling schou-schong tea, Barney. Miss Good-enough would be charmed; she thinks you are a delightful renegade."
Barney sighed.
"We'll have whiskey for you," Douglass said.
"I surrender," Barney muttered. His fingers closed around her wrist.
Douglass turned away from him. Before she could move away she felt his hands grasp her shoulders. He stood behind her.
"Let me go, Barney," she said.
"No." He leaned down and kissed the white skin at the base of her neck. He spoke in her ear. "I've made a hell of a concession, having tea tomorrow."
Douglass whispered, "You aren't going to drink any."
"No. Now I'm asking you for something."
His hands were strong on her shoulders. "You're not asking," Douglass said.
He swung her around to face him. His arms closed around her. He had tipped her head back over his arm, and she looked up at his face through her thick lashes.
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He said, "I'm not trying to seduce you, wench. All I want is a goodnight kiss. Remove your hands from the front of my coat."
"Barney." She said his name very low. She placed her hands gingerly on his wide shoulders.