The Wedding Dress (14 page)

“
You think so, Odette?
”
He gave her that quick, boyish smile.
“
In the very last moment I never know if it is good or not.
”

“
It is superb and yet touching beyond belief. Like faint mist at dawn, with that glow of shell pink just showing through the white.
”

“
And there’s dew on it too,
”
said Loraine, softly touching the folds of the skirt, where an occasional
paillette
lent sparkle to the breathtaking clouds of tulle.

“
True,
”
said Florian. But she could not tell from his tone if they were really on speaking terms, or whether she had been forgiven for her outrageous piece of insubordination before the Show began.

And then Madame Moisant gave a peremptory gesture and Loraine heard her make the last announcement, which heralded the entry of the wedding dress.

“
Slowly,
”
whispered Florian,
“
slowly.
And
remember that now you are not a mannequin showing a dress, but a bride going towards her happiness.
”

“
Yes, monsieur,
”
she whispered in return, and her voice was faintly tremulous. Then she parted the curtains and stood there before Philip
—
for the others did not count
—
in all the touching glory of the wedding dress.

With instinctive artistry, she made no conventional turn. She just stood there for almost a minute, her hands lightly clasped against her breast, her wide eyes looking with half timid rapture towards the future. Then, in the stunned silence which had greeted her entrance, she moved slowly forward. And, as she did so, the applause broke out like a thunderclap.

She was aware that, incredibly, half the audience had risen to their feet and were waving their programmes in tribute. But she moved slowly on as though she saw nothing
—
nothing but the shining future in front of her.

She had meant to break that rapt glance when she reached Philip and look at him with a faint smile which would tell him that this was specially for him. But, in some inexplicable way, she could not free herself from the spell which she herself had created.

To look at anyone at close range would be to shatter the mood of rapturous isolation which was the keynote of her impression. She had no idea that, in that moment, she completely surrendered her private interests to the demands of artistic integrity. She only knew that she must
continue
to look ahead
—
which she did.

“
The child is wonderful
—
wonderful,
”
she heard Mrs. Otway say excitedly.
“
Did you ever see anything so lovely, Philip
?
”

And she thought he said,
“
Never.
”
But she could not be quite sure because of the pandemonium around her.

She moved through it all, and on the return journey too, serene and rapt. Then she was out in the corridor, looking down the full length of it, and perfectly naturally, her wide-eyed glance rested on her guardian.

It was the most extraordinary experience. As though something or someone awoke her from a trance. And, as she awoke, she smiled.

He got to his feet. He was not the only one. But he gave the impression of rising in the presence of something a little unearthly, and he did not shout or wave his programme. He did not even clap. He just looked at her, incredulously. And, as she passed, he said softly,
“
You darling!
”

She could not have said why, but that brought the tears to her eyes. And, although she was now too well disciplined to allow them to fall, by the time she returned to the dressing-room, tears were trembling on her lashes.

“
Not on the wedding dress! Not on the wedding dress!
”
exclaimed Madame Moisant, thrusting her handkerchief into her hand.
“
But you were splendid,
petite,
splendid. Now blow your nose and be cheerful, for all is well.
”

Loraine obeyed, submissively, while everyone crowded round to congratulate her, with the exception of Lisette, who stood aloof and remarked that they were there to display Monsieur Florian’s dresses and not to play theatre, which was what Loraine had done.

“
It is natural that you should be jealous, Lisette,
”
said Madame Moisant genially.
“
But you are stupid to show it. Now take off the dress, Loraine.
”

“
One moment, madame!
”
Florian came in
—
having torn himself away from a storm of congratulations outside
—
and as the girls fell back respectfully, he came up to Loraine.

“
Thank you,
chérie
,”
he said, and, taking her hand, he kissed it.

“
Oh, monsieur!
”
To her dismay, Loraine felt quite tearful again.
“
Am I
—
am I forgiven?
”

“
For what,
petite
?”

“
Oh, you
know
!
For the
—
the awful things I said to you before the Show,
”
Loraine exclaimed remorsefully.

“
Once success is assured, I forget everything which happened before the Show,
”
Florian assured her, his grey eyes glinting with amusement.

“
Oh, monsieur, how
—
generous of you!
”

“
But perhaps I should remember to tell, you that your guardian has already safely left.
”

“
Left?
”
Inexplicably, she was stunned with disappointment.
“
Left
—
without a word to me? Oh, but I wanted
—
”

“
You wanted to make sure that he and Monsieur Philippe did not meet, at any cost,
”
her employer reminded her drily.

“
Yes
—
of course.
”
She tried to
remember
how unspeakably important that was.

“
By careful arrangement, I kept them apart before the Show. And, by assuring your guardian there was no chance of speaking to you, I sent him briskly on his way once more. I hope,
”
said Florian, a trifle maliciously,
“
that you are properly grateful.
”

“
Oh, I
—
I am. But
—
did he
want
to come and speak to me?
”

“
Very much.
”

“
Oh, I wish you had let him!
”

“
At the risk of his running into Monsieur Philippe?
”
She did not answer that immediately. She stared at Florian instead, as though she had recalled or discovered something which had given her a great shock. Then she said, quite irrelevantly:

“
I didn’t look at Philip after all. I
—
I looked at Paul.
”

“
Ah,
”
said the great designer softly.
“
That is indeed interesting. Now take off the wedding dress. You have a busy day in front of you, and I think your friend Mrs. Otway is hoping to have a word with you.
”

He left her then, and she carefully divested herself of the wedding dress, with the brisk assistance of one of the principal
vendeuses,
who already wanted her to come and display a couple of her models for a customer.

“
They are for a prospective bride,
”
she explained to Loraine,
“
so she may want several designs for her trousseau. But not the wedding dress, I thi
nk.
That would not be her style.
”

“
Who is she?
”
inquired Loraine, pausing in the act of changing to a midnight blue cocktail dress.

“
M
r
s
.
Roye. Her future mother-in-law is a very good cu
s
tomer of ours.
”

“
I know them,
”
Loraine said briefly. And she accompanied the
vendeuse
to one of the larger fitting-rooms, where she found not only Elinor and Mrs. Otway but Philip too.

They were all congratulatory
—
even Elinor in a cool, impersonal sort of way
—
but it was Mrs. Otway who did most of the talking. Philip was quite extraordinarily silent, once he had expressed his admiration of Loraine’s part in the Show, and she had the impression that he was deeply troubled.

Well, perhaps that was the way it had to be. It could hardly be easy to watch one’s
fiancée
choosing things for her trousseau if one had just made the shattering discovery that one loved someone else.

Only
—
was
that the discovery he had made?

As she went through the motions of being intelligently interested in Elinor’s choice, Loraine found herself desperately trying to decide what that moody silence of Philip’s meant.

In all her hopes and anticipations, she had never faced the fact that she might be no nearer the truth even when the great dress show was over. But then, of course, when it came to the point, she had not put the issue to the test.

She could hardly believe it now. And certainly she could not explain it to herself. Why,
why
had she not looked at him at that vital moment when she appeared before him in the wedding dress? That was to be the test, and on the result of it she was to be able to base all her future actions.

Instead of which, she had not even looked at him. She had looked at Paul instead.

And Paul had said,
“
You darling!
”
and brought the tears to her eyes. Which had nothing whatever to do with the present situation but seemed curiously important, all the same.

“
What do you think, Philip?
”
Elinor turned suddenly to her
fiancé
.
“
We haven’t heard your opinion. And if you’re going to live with these dresses, you’d better have some choice in the matter. How do you like the blue cocktail dress?
”

“
It looks lovely to me,
”
Philip said slowly. But he looked straight at Loraine as he said it.

“
You don’t feel it’s a trifle
—
ingénue
for you, dear?
”
That was Mrs. Otway, being disparagingly helpful. And, not for the first time, Loraine felt unhappy and ashamed to be in any sort of alliance with her, however involuntary.

“
I hadn’t thought so,
”
replied Elinor drily.
“
Would you like me to have it, Philip?
”

“
If it pleases you.
”

“
But I was asking if it pleased
you,
”
Elinor said, gently and firmly.

Philip had always, in Loraine’s experience, been completely at ease in any situation. But now he actually, looked faintly harassed, as he laughed impatiently and said:

“
If you like it, my dear, I think you should have it.
”

“
Which means that you don’t like it very much yourself?
”
she pressed him.

“
I must confess I find these dress shows rather more confusing than you women seem to do.
”
Philip shrugged but made an effort to show something of his usual good temper.
“
Once I’ve seen someone in a dress
—
particularly a clever dress
—
it seems odd to me to transfer
it to someone else. For me, that’s Loraine’s dress and
—
”