In the Monte Carlo rainbow you
sometimes begin at the bottom."
He looked steadily at Mary as he finished his simile. Then he lifted the
silver cover of a dish which had just arrived, and gave his whole
attention to a noble Welsh rabbit, an odd dainty for a Riviera
supper--but Ciro prided himself on gratifying any whim of any customer,
at five minutes' notice.
Captain Hannaford had listened in silence, with a light of malicious
amusement in his eyes, which travelled from Madeleine to Mary, from Mary
to Madeleine, and occasionally to Dick Carleton.
Mary, despite her blank ignorance of the world and its ways, was far
from stupid or slow of understanding. She realized that Schuyler's
harangue to Madame d'Ambre was all, or almost all, for her: and she
caught his meaning in the last sentence of the rainbow allegory. He
wanted her to know that she had "begun at the bottom," and must beware.
She was half vexed, half grateful; vexed for Madeleine, and grateful for
herself, because, being Peter's hero, he must be a good man, who would
not be cruel to a woman for sheer love of cruelty. But her shamed pity
for Madeleine was stronger than her gratitude; and instead of giving
less out of her winnings than she had planned to give, she impulsively
decided to give more; this, not because she believed in or liked
Madeleine d'Ambre, but because she winced under a sister woman's
humiliation. The ugly flash in the eyes that had been wistful, shocked
her. She saw that they were cat-coloured eyes, and Jim Schuyler scored
as he meant to score, in her resolve to pay Madame d'Ambre well, then
gently to slip out of her friendship.
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