"That is good, Boss", answered Tite, cutting the plum cake carefully in half. "I am always ready to learn".
XIX. The Bathing Party
"These croquet and archery parties are all very well", said Conway, "but I should like to see you give something more spirited in the way of entertainment. Now, where Mary and I were in the south of France, we went to some parties on the seashore where the diversions were drinking champagne and bathing".
He raised his greenish eyes to his sister’s face, from where he sat on the floor at her feet, his head resting against her knee. Sholto sat in an identical position with his head against her other knee. Mary sat in a straight-backed chair opposite, crocheting fine lace for a border on a cambric nightcap. She said:
"Yes, indeed, dear Adeline, we had the most heavenly time you can imagine. Some of the bathing-costumes were as pretty as pictures and when we were tired of the water we lay on the sands and sang".
"I can’t picture it taking place here", said Adeline.
"It can take place quite simply", said Conway, "if only you will let me engineer it. First of all we must eliminate those oldsters who carp at the licence the young take. You need only get together a congenial party, provide the refreshments, and I shall look after the rest".
"This lake is not the Mediterranean", said Adeline. "It’s likely to be cold".
"In this torrid weather! No-it will be deliciously cool. Come along, Sis, say you will!"
"Do say you will", repeated Sholto, turning Adeline’s rings about on her fingers.
"We have no bathing-costumes".
"Conway and I have", said Mary. "The rest of you can easily buy or make them. Lydia Busby tells me she has a pattern for one. Do say yes!"
"There really is nothing to do", said Sholto. "We might as well be in Ireland".
"The moon is at the full", said Conway, "and would give us all the light we should need".
"You intend to stay after sunset, then?" asked Adeline.
"Assuredly", said Mary. "We’d die of the heat if we went before late afternoon. Oh, if only you knew the pleasure of such a party! The freedom from long skirts and tight shoes and-above all-convention!"
"I didn’t know that convention had ever troubled any of you", returned Adeline.
"We feel it here", said Sholto. "We hate being hampered".
"Then go home", retorted his sister.
"What a beast you are, Sis", he returned, kissing her hand.
She took a handful of hair on each of their heads and gave it a tug. "Have your way, then. But there will be no champagne. A good claret cup must suffice. Make out your list, Conway. Get the pattern of the bathing-costume, Mary. If we’re to have the party before the dark of the moon, we must make haste".
They did make haste-the principal obstacle to overcome being lack of covering for their bodies. Those bidden to the party included Robert and Daisy Vaughan, the Brents, the four young Busbys, Dr. Ramsay and Wilmott. Including the five from Jalna there were to be fifteen at the bathing party. A sewing-bee was held at Jalna where, with great speed and small consideration for the peculiarities of figure, costumes were produced. There was a singular likeness among them all. A bolt of dark-blue flannel had been bought, along with several bolts of white braid, for the female costumes. The males were to wear their own white shirts but, for their nether parts, white flannel knee-length trousers were made. The cutting-out of these, the sewing together of the two halves, produced such extraordinary results that shrieks of hysterical laughter resounded through the house. Mary laughed till she cried so that water had to be thrown on her and work was at a standstill for some time.
Finally Sholto, as the youngest and most innocent of the males, was made to dress in the first costume completed. His shirt of course fitted admirably, but the trousers, reaching midway between knee and ankle, had such a comic effect that the work was once more held up by unrestrained laughter. Sholto capered about the room shamelessly, his pale-red hair on end, his thin legs flashing. Whether the trousers should be lengthened or shortened, trimmed with braid or left plain, was the subject of excited talk. It was a blessing that neither Mrs. Vaughan nor Mrs. Lacey was present.
When Philip tried on his in the privacy of his bedroom, he found he could not sit down in them.
"Adeline", he shouted, "come here at once!" She came expectantly.
"You may have the damned party without me", he said. "I can’t sit down in these".
She walked round him, examining him critically.
"You don’t need to sit down", she said. "They’re for swimming in, not sitting in. You can swim, can’t you?"
"Certainly I can. But do you expect me to swim about continually while the rest of you sit on the shore drinking claret? Also, I doubt very much if I could swim in them. They are extraordinarily tight and a most evil shape".
"Faith, they are", said Adeline. "I shall give them to Wilmott and make you another pair. He’s much thinner in the thigh".
Another pair was made of the very last of the flannel and, though from scarcity of material they had to be made rather shorter than the others, Philip did not object, for now he would be able both to swim and to sit down.
The heat was unusual. There had been nothing to equal it in the preceding summer. Toward the full of the moon it grew even more intense. It seemed almost too great an effort to set out for the bathing party. At four o’clock the shadows of the trees made the road to the lake less glaring. But the leaves were as motionless as though carved from metal. The sky had the hard brightness of a gem. The Whiteoaks’ new wagonette, drawn by a pair of spanking bays, bowled down the drive and through the gate, driven by Philip. He was a fine hand with the reins. The horses moved beautifully.
As well as their own party, there sat on the seats facing each other the two Vaughans and Wilmott. Hampers of food were disposed beneath the seats, as well as the boxes containing the bathing-costumes. On the road they discovered the Brents in a shiny new buggy and the four Busbys in an old phaeton. Young Isaac Busby was determined to race his raw-boned wild-looking horses against Philip’s, in spite of the heat. Weather meant nothing to the Busbys.
"Come on-come on!" he shouted, cracking his whip, but Philip kept his horses at a gentle trot.
They could smell the freshness of the lake before they came upon it. A breeze rose from its faintly ruffled surface. All about it the forest crowded. It was like a guarded inland sea. Flocks of sand-pipers moved trimly across the smooth beach. A cloud of kingfishers rose and cast their blueness upon the blue of the lake. A dozen ruby-throated humming-birds hovered above a tangle of honeysuckle that grew near the beach. The road ended in a rough field and there the horses were unharnessed and tethered. Dr. Ramsay came last, riding his grey gelding and throwing a bundle on to the beach with the remark that no one was to bathe till thoroughly cooled off.
"Then I shall never bathe", cried Mary, "for I am sure I shall never be cool again".
"You should take great care of yourself, Mrs. Court", said the doctor. "You are very thin".
"I bathed twice a day in the Mediterranean", she said defiantly.
"That was very reckless of you". He came to her side with a professional air. "May I feel your pulse?" he asked.
Childishly she laid her thin wrist in his fingers.
"Just as I thought. You have a very quick pulse. You should not over-exert".
"Do feel mine", said Adeline, "for I do believe it has stopped entirely".
"There is no use in my telling you to take care of yourself, Mrs. Whiteoak", he said severely.
She gave a little grimace that made him smile in spite of himself. He coloured, for he had hoped to make her forget, by his severity, how he once had given way to amatory impulse.