I took another deep breath and shifted to the sordid side of the business.
"I hope you won"t think I"m b.u.t.ting in, don"t you know," I said, "but--er--well, how about it?"
"I fear I do not quite follow you."
"Well, I mean to say, his allowance and all that. The money you"re good enough to give him. He was rather hoping that you might see your way to jerking up the total a bit."
Old Little shook his head regretfully.
"I fear that can hardly be managed. You see, a man in my position is compelled to save every penny. I will gladly continue my nephew"s existing allowance, but beyond that I cannot go. It would not be fair to my wife."
"What! But you"re not married?"
"Not yet. But I propose to enter upon that holy state almost immediately. The lady who for years has cooked so well for me honoured me by accepting my hand this very morning." A cold gleam of triumph came into his eye. "Now let "em try to get her away from me!" he muttered, defiantly.
"Young Mr. Little has been trying frequently during the afternoon to reach you on the telephone, sir," said Jeeves that night, when I got home.
"I"ll bet he has," I said. I had sent poor old Bingo an outline of the situation by messenger-boy shortly after lunch.
"He seemed a trifle agitated."
"I don"t wonder. Jeeves," I said, "so brace up and bite the bullet. I"m afraid I"ve bad news for you.
"That scheme of yours--reading those books to old Mr. Little and all that--has blown out a fuse."
"They did not soften him?"
"They did. That"s the whole bally trouble. Jeeves, I"m sorry to say that _fiancee_ of yours--Miss Watson, you know--the cook, you know--well, the long and the short of it is that she"s chosen riches instead of honest worth, if you know what I mean."
"Sir?"
"She"s handed you the mitten and gone and got engaged to old Mr.
Little!"
"Indeed, sir?"
"You don"t seem much upset."
"That fact is, sir, I had antic.i.p.ated some such outcome."
I stared at him. "Then what on earth did you suggest the scheme for?"
"To tell you the truth, sir, I was not wholly averse from a severance of my relations with Miss Watson. In fact, I greatly desired it. I respect Miss Watson exceedingly, but I have seen for a long time that we were not suited. Now, the _other_ young person with whom I have an understanding----"
"Great Scott, Jeeves! There isn"t another?"
"Yes, sir."
"How long has this been going on?"
"For some weeks, sir. I was greatly attracted by her when I first met her at a subscription dance at Camberwell."
"My sainted aunt! Not----"
Jeeves inclined his head gravely.
"Yes, sir. By an odd coincidence it is the same young person that young Mr. Little--I have placed the cigarettes on the small table. Good night, sir."
CONCEALED ART
If a fellow has lots of money and lots of time and lots of curiosity about other fellows" business, it is astonishing, don"t you know, what a lot of strange affairs he can get mixed up in. Now, I have money and curiosity and all the time there is. My name"s Pepper--Reggie Pepper.
My uncle was the colliery-owner chappie, and he left me the d.i.c.kens of a pile. And ever since the lawyer slipped the stuff into my hand, whispering "It"s yours!" life seems to have been one thing after another.
For instance, the dashed rummy case of dear old Archie. I first ran into old Archie when he was studying in Paris, and when he came back to London he looked me up, and we celebrated. He always liked me because I didn"t mind listening to his theories of Art. For Archie, you must know, was an artist. Not an ordinary artist either, but one of those fellows you read about who are several years ahead of the times, and paint the sort of thing that people will be educated up to by about 1999 or thereabouts.
Well, one day as I was sitting in the club watching the traffic coming up one way and going down the other, and thinking nothing in particular, in blew the old boy. He was looking rather worried.
"Reggie, I want your advice."
"You shall have it," I said. "State your point, old top."
"It"s like this--I"m engaged to be married."
"My dear old scout, a million con----"
"Yes, I know. Thanks very much, and all that, but listen."
"What"s the trouble? Don"t you like her?"
A kind of rapt expression came over his face.
"Like her! Why, she"s the only----"
He gibbered for a spell. When he had calmed down, I said, "Well then, what"s your trouble?"
"Reggie," he said, "do you think a man is bound to tell his wife all about his past life?"
"Oh, well," I said, "of course, I suppose she"s prepared to find that a man has--er--sowed his wild oats, don"t you know, and all that sort of thing, and----"
He seemed quite irritated.
"Don"t be a chump. It"s nothing like that. Listen. When I came back to London and started to try and make a living by painting, I found that people simply wouldn"t buy the sort of work I did at any price. Do you know, Reggie, I"ve been at it three years now, and I haven"t sold a single picture."