Frank was relieved when they could sit down to the bridge table. It was plain to her that Arrow and Beatrice were upset. She wanted them to like Lena and she was anxious that Lena should enjoy her fortnight with them. For the first rubber Arrow cut with the newcomer.
'Do you play Vanderbilt or Culbertson?' she asked her.
'I have no conventions,' Lena answered in a happy-go-lucky way, 'I play by the light of nature.'
'I play strict Culbertson,' said Arrow acidly.
The three fat women braced themselves to the fray. No conventions indeed! They'd learn her. When it came to bridge even Frank's family feeling was forgotten and she settled down with the same determination as the others to trim the stranger in their midst. But the light of nature served Lena very well. She had a natural gift for the game and great experience. She played with imagination, quickly, boldly, and with assurance. The other players were in too high a class not to realize very soon that Lena knew what she was about, and since they were all thoroughly good-natured, generous women, they were gradually mollified. This was real bridge. They all enjoyed themselves. Arrow and Beatrice began to feel more kindly towards Lena, and Frank, noticing this, heaved a fat sigh of relief. It was going to be a success.
After a couple of hours they parted, Frank and Beatrice to have a round of golf, and Arrow to take a brisk walk with a young Prince Roccamare whose acquaintance she had lately made. He was very sweet and young and good-looking. Lena said she would rest.
They met again just before dinner.
'I hope you've been all right, Lena dear,' said Frank. 'I was rather conscience-stricken at leaving you with nothing to do all this time.'
'Oh, don't apologize. I had a lovely sleep and then I went down to Juan and had a cocktail. And d'you know what I discovered? You'll be so pleased. I found a dear little tea-shop where they've got the most beautiful thick fresh cream. I've ordered half a pint to be sent every day. I thought it would be my little contribution to the household.'
Her eyes were shining. She was evidently expecting them to be delighted.
'How very kind of you,' said Frank, with a look that sought to quell the indignation that she saw on the faces of her two friends. 'But we never eat cream. In this climate it makes one so bilious.'
'I shall have to eat it all myself then,' said Lena cheerfully.
'Don't you ever think of your figure?' Arrow asked with icy deliberation.
'The doctor said I must eat.'
'Did he say you must eat bread and butter and potatoes and cream?'
'Yes. That's what I thought you meant when you said you had simple food.'
'You'll get simply enormous,' said Beatrice. Lena laughed gaily.
'No, I shan't. You see, nothing ever makes me fat. I've always eaten everything I wanted to and it's never had the slightest effect on me.'
The stony silence that followed this speech was only broken by the entrance of the butler.
'Mademoiselle est servie,' he announced.
They talked the matter over late that night, after Lena had gone to bed, in Frank's room. During the evening they had been furiously cheerful, and they had chaffed one another with a friendliness that would have taken in the keenest observer. But now they dropped the mask. Beatrice was sullen, Arrow was spiteful and Frank was unmanned.
'It's not very nice for me to sit there and see her eat all the things I particularly like,' said Beatrice plaintively.
'It's not very nice for any of us,' Frank snapped back.
'You should never have asked her here,' said Arrow.
'How was I to know?' cried Frank.
'I can't help thinking that if she really cared for her husband she would hardly eat so much.' said Beatrice. 'He's only been buried two months. I mean, I think you ought to show some resect for the dead.'
'Why can't she eat the same as we do?' asked Arrow viciously. 'She's a guest.'
'Well, you heard what she said. The doctor told her she must eat.'
'Then she ought to go to a sanatorium.'
'It's more than flesh and blood can stand, Frank,' moaned Beatrice. 'If I can stand it you can stand it.'
'She's your cousin, she's not our cousin,' said Arrow. 'I'm not going to sit there for fourteen days and watch that woman make a hog of herself.'
'It's so vulgar to attach all this importance to food,' Frank boomed, and her voice was deeper than ever. 'After all the only thing that counts really is spirit.'
'Are you calling me vulgar, Frank?' asked Arrow with flashing eyes.
'No, of course she isn't,' interrupted Beatrice.
'I wouldn't put it past you to go down in the kitchen when we're all in bed and have a good square meal on the sly.'
Frank sprang to her feet.
'How dare you say that, Arrow! I'd never ask anybody to do what I'm not prepared to do myself. Have you known me all these years and do you think me capable of such a mean thing?'
'How is it you never take off any weight then?'
Frank gave a gasp and burst into a flood of tears.
'What a cruel thing to say! I've lost pounds and pounds.'
She wept like a child. Her vast body shook and great tears splashed on her mountainous bosom.
'Darling, I didn't mean it,' cried Arrow.
She threw herself on her knees and enveloped what she could of Frank in her own plump arms. She wept and the mascara ran down her cheeks.
'D'you mean to say I don't look thinner?' Frank sobbed. 'After all I've gone through.'
'Yes, dear, of course you do,' cried Arrow through her tears. 'Everybody's noticed it.'
Beatrice, though naturally of a placid disposition, began to cry gently. It was very pathetic. Indeed, it would have been a hard heart that failed to be moved by the sight of Frank, that lion-hearted woman, crying her eyes out. Presently, however, they dried their tears and had a little brandy and water, which every doctor had told them was the least fattening thing they could drink, and then they felt much better. They decided that Lena should have the nourishing food that had been ordered her and they made a solemn resolution not to let it disturb their equanimity. She was certainly a first-rate bridge player and after all it was only for a fortnight. They would do whatever they could to make her stay enjoyable. They kissed one another warmly and separated for the night feeling strangely uplifted. Nothing should interfere with the wonderful friendship that had brought so much happiness into their three lives.
But human nature is weak. You must not ask too much of it. They ate grilled fish while Lena ate macaroni sizzling with cheese and butter; they ate grilled cutlets and boiled spinach while Lena ate pГўtГ© de foie gras; twice a week they ate hard-boiled eggs and raw tomatoes, while Lena ate peas swimming in cream and potatoes cooked in all sorts of delicious ways. The chef was a good chef and he leapt at the opportunity afforded him to send up one dish more rich, tasty and succulent than the other.
'Poor Jim,' sighed Lena, thinking of her husband, 'he loved French cooking.'
The butler disclosed the fact that he could make half a dozen kinds of cocktail and Lena informed them that the doctor had recommended her to drink burgundy at luncheon and champagne at dinner. The three fat women persevered. They were gay, chatty and even hilarious (such is the natural gift that women have for deception) but Beatrice grew limp and forlorn, and Arrow's tender blue eyes acquired a steely glint. Frank's deep voice grew more raucous. It was when they played bridge that the strain showed itself. They had always been fond of talking over their hands, but their discussion had been friendly. Now a distinct bitterness crept in and sometimes one pointed out a mistake to another with quite unnecessary frankness. Discussion turned to argument and argument to altercation. Sometimes the session ended in angry silence. Once Frank accused Arrow of deliberately letting her down. Two or three times Beatrice, the softest of the three, was reduced to tears. On another occasion Arrow flung down her cards and swept out of the room in a pet. Their tempers were getting frayed. Lena was the peacemaker.