“well, i must admit your new friend behaved quite foolishly, but i do not see why any great fuss should be made about it, “ angeline observed after the duke finished his tale. “international incident indeed! or why you should be held accountable, as you seem to have done what you could to stop him.”
“at least by your own account,” mademoiselle feval added dryly.
joe and mary had listened politely to the duke’s story, without commenting or interrupting. joe had had trouble making any sense of it, but mary observed,
“and what of ms carlotta bligh? is she being blamed or implicated in this episode? as according to your account, she was accompanying you? i must admit i am particularly curious, as i have always been an ardent admirer of that intrepid personage.”
“miss bligh disappeared after the incident,” the duke replied. “neither gregor nor myself, when detained and questioned by the authorities, fell it incumbent on us to mention her presence.”
“that was gallant of you,” angeline observed, but before she could expand or the theme, or the duke reply, the little party was interrupted by the arrival of peters, lord chandler’s manservant..
“lord chandler requests your presence, your grace,” peters addressed the duke. “he asked me to tell you it was most urgent,”
with a sigh, the duke rose, made his apologies, and followed peters out of the room.
to joe’s and mary’s eyes, neither angeline nor mademoiselle feval seemed to place any great import on the urgency of lord chandler’s summons.
“tell me, ms brown,” angeline asked, “who is this carlotta bligh person whom you describe yourself as an ardent admirer of? the name seems to ring a distant bell.”
“she was - and apparently still is - a foreign correspondent, traveling over the globes and galaxies in hopes of getting the real stories behind developing stories.”
“i see.” angeline replied in a tone that plainly said that she did not see at all. “but what exactly is a story if it is not itself? and in any case any story is available to anyone who cares to take the time to interest themselves in it.”
“and,” added mademoiselle feval, “in any case there are millions of new stories every day, washing away the ones of the previous day. so who needs some so-called foreign correspondent to tell them what to look at? of course,” she added in a gentler tone to mary, “if ms bligh was some sort of childhood heroine to you, that is another matter, and quite understandable.”
“although, “ angeline addressed mary, “i must say you seem a bit young to remember the heyday of such an old trouper as carlotta bligh.”
“my mother was an enthusiastic admirer of carlotta bligh,” mary replied. “not only in her capacity as a foreign correspondent, but as one of the last of the great feminists.”
“ a feminist!” exclaimed mademoiselle feval. “why it is ages since i heard the term.”
“but what is a feminist?” asked angeline. “is it some some of person? i thought is was some sort of jewel, or maybe a flower or a fruit.”
“oh no,” mademoiselle feval laughed. “they were people all right. very - very - very forceful people, many of them. very much inclined to put themselves forward.”
“and still are,” mary added, perhaps a shade too loudly for polite conversation, “i, myself, am a feminist!”
“you do not say so!” exclaimed mademoiselle feval. “how droll! why, this is wonderful! when you mentioned starting a new religion i must admit i rolled my third eye a bit, but a feminist! well, this will provide a wonderful topic of conversation at dinner, if you do not mind expounding on the theme to mr mahmoud and our other guests, who often find themselves at a loss for a fresh or unfamiliar theme.”
“i do not mind in the least , “ mary answered. “i should be happy to expound, as you put it, on the subject, if that is your desire.”
“then it is settled. how fortunate we were to find you, ms brown. i now look forward to dinner, which i must confess i had been mildly dreading.”
“mary smiled. “it will be my pleasure.”
joe had no idea what they were talking about, and kept his own counsel, as usual.
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