I did not tell Maurice of my approaching wedding. I have a plan that he
shall only know when I ask him to come to the Hotel de Courville to be
presented to my wife.
The Fluffies have returned from Deauville, and Coralie and Alice joined
us at luncheon. They have the most exquisite new garments, and were full
of sparkle and gaiety. Alice's wedding, to the rich neutral, seems
really to be coming off. Her air was one of subdued modesty and
gentleness, and when I congratulated her she made the tenderest
acceptance of it, which would have done justice to a young virgin of
the ancien regime! Coralie met my eye with her shrewd small ones, and
we looked away! After lunch we sat in the hall for a little, Maurice
taking Alice to try on her clothes, so Coralie and I were left alone.
"You are looking quite well now Nicholas," she whispered, "Why don't you
ask me to come and dine with you, at your adorable flat,--alone?"
"You would be bored with me before the evening was over."
"Arrange it, and try! Always there are the others, except that night at
Versailles. There is an air with you Nicholas,--one has forgotten all
about your eye. I have thought and thought of you.--You have interfered
with all my pleasures in life!"
"I am going back to England quite soon, Coralie, won't you come now to
the rue de la Paix and let me buy you a little souvenir of all the
lovely times we have had together in the last year?"
So she came, and selected a gem of an opera glass. An opera glass is
discreet, it can be accepted by anyone; even a woman determined to
impress my mind with her dignity and charm, as Coralie was attempting to
do, upon our expedition. She had made up her mind that I should no
longer be just a benefit to the three of them, but her own especial
property, and she is clever enough to see that I am in a mood to admire
dignity and discretion! I spent a most amusing hour with her, enjoying
myself in the spirit of watching a good play at the Comedie Français.
At about four o'clock, when we returned to the Ritz, Coralie was
baffled. I could see that she was keener than ever, and beginning to be
a little worried and unsure of herself!
As I drove back to my flat, taking a roundabout way through the Bois, I
mused and analysed things. And what is the psychological reason for some
presents being quite correct to give and some not? It all goes back to
the re-creative instinct and through what this manifests itself. Gifts
which have any relation to the body, to give it pleasure, or to decorate
it, are the expressions of the sex relationship, and so presumably the
subconscious mind, which only sees the truth in everything, only feels
harmonious when these gifts are given by either parents or relations, as
a dower, so to speak, or the husband or prospective husband. Hence
through the ages, the unconscious relegation of certain presents as
acceptable only from certain people. Any present which gives pleasure to
the mind alone is the tribute of friendship, but those to touch the body
are presumably not. I could give Coralie an opera glass as a mark of my
esteem, but a bracelet which she would wear on her arm would have
another meaning!