"We had better concoct an epistle to Raggles this morning."
"But you can"t be serious?"
"I can sometimes, my dear Dale. This is one of the afflicting occasions."
"You out of Parliament? You out of public life? It"s inconceivable. It"s d.a.m.nable. But you"re just coming into your own--what Raggles said, what I told you yesterday. But it can"t be. You can hold on. I"ll do all the drudgery for you. I"ll work night and day."
And he tramped up and down the room, uttering the disconnected phrases which an honest young soul unaccustomed to express itself emotionally blurts out in moments of deep feeling.
"It"s no use, Dale," said I, "I"ve got my marching orders."
"But why should they come just now?"
"When the sweets of office are dangling at my lips? It"s pretty simple."
I laughed. "It"s one of the little ironies that please the high G.o.ds so immensely. They have an elementary sense of humour--like that of the funny fellow who pulls your chair from under you and shrieks with laughter when you go wallop on to the floor. Well, I don"t grudge them their amus.e.m.e.nt. They must have a dull time settling mundane affairs, and a little joke goes a long way with them, as it does in the House of Commons. Fancy sitting on those green benches legislating for all eternity, with never a recess and never even a dinner hour! Poor high G.o.ds! Let us pity them."
I looked at him and smiled, perhaps a little wearily. One can always command one"s eyes, but one"s lips sometimes get out of control. He could not have noticed my lips, however, for he cried:
"By George, you"re splendid! I wish I could take a knock-out blow like that!"
"You"ll have to one of these days. It"s the only way of taking it. And now," said I, in a businesslike tone, "I"ve told you all this with a purpose. At Wymington it will be a case of "Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!" The vacancy will have to be filled up at once. We"ll have to find a suitable candidate. Have you one in your mind?"
"Not a soul."
"I have."
"Who?"
"You."
"Me?" He nearly sprang into the air with astonishment.
"Why not?"
"They"d never adopt me."
"I think they would," I said. "There are men in the House as young as you. You"re well known at Wymington and at headquarters as my right-hand man. You"ve done some speaking--you do it rather well; it"s only your private conversational style that"s atrocious. You"ve got a name familiar in public life up and down the country, thanks to your father and mother. It"s a fairly safe seat. I see no reason why they shouldn"t adopt you. Would you like it?"
"Like it?" he cried. "Why I"d give my ears for it."
"Then," said I, playing my winning card, "let us hear no more about Lola Brandt."
He gave me a swift glance, and walked up and down the room for a while in silence. Presently he halted in front of me.
"Look here, Simon, you"re a beast, but"--he smiled frankly at the quotation--"you"re a just beast. You oughtn"t to rub it in like that about Lola until you have seen her yourself. It isn"t fair."
"You speak now in language distinctly approaching that of reason," I remarked. "What do you want me to do?"
"Come with me this afternoon and see her."
My young friend had me nicely in the trap. I could not refuse.
"Very well," said I. "But on the distinct understanding--"
"Oh, on any old understanding you like!" he cried, and darted to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To ring her up on the telephone and tell her you"re coming."
That"s the worst of the young. They have such a disconcerting manner of clinching one"s undertakings.
CHAPTER IV
My first impression of Lola Brandt in the dimness of the room was that of a lithe panther in petticoats rising lazily from the depths of an easy chair. A sinuous action of the arm, as she extended her hand to welcome me, was accompanied by a curiously flexible turn of the body.
Her hand as it enveloped, rather than grasped, mine seemed boneless but exceedingly powerful. An indoor dress of brown and gold striped Indian silk clung to her figure, which, largely built, had an appearance of great strength. Dark bronze hair and dark eyes, that in the soft light of the room glowed with deep gold reflections, completed the pantherine suggestion. She seemed to be on the verge of thirty. A most dangerous woman, I decided--one to be shut up in a cage with thick iron bars.
"It"s charming of you to come. I"ve heard so much of you from Mr.
Kynnersley. Do sit down."
Her voice was lazy and languorous and caressing like the purr of a great cat; and there was something exotic in her accent, something seductive, something that ought to be prohibited by the police. She sank into her low chair by the fire, indicating one for me square with the hearthrug.
Dale, so as to leave me a fair conversational field with the lady, established himself on the sofa some distance off, and began to talk with a Chow dog, with whom he was obviously on terms of familiarity.
Madame Brandt make a remark about the Chow dog"s virtues, to which I politely replied. She put him through several tricks. I admired his talent. She declared her affections to be divided between Adolphus (that was the Chow dog"s name) and an ouist.i.ti, who was confined to bed for the present owing to the evil qualities of the November air. For the first time I blessed the English climate. I hate little monkeys. I also felt a queer disappointment. A woman like that ought to have caught an ourang-outang.
She guessed my thought in an uncanny manner, and smiled, showing strong, white, even teeth--the most marvellous teeth I have ever beheld--so even as to const.i.tute almost a deformity.
"I"m fonder of bigger animals," she said. "I was born among them.
My father was a lion tamer, so I know all the ways of beasts. I love bears--I once trained one to drive a cart--but"--with a sigh--"you can"t keep bears in Cadogan Gardens."
"You may get hold of a human one now and then," said Dale.
"I"ve no doubt Madame Brandt could train him to dance to whatever tune she played," said I.
She turned her dark golden eyes lazily, slumberously on me.
"Why do you say that, Mr. de Gex?"
This was disconcerting. Why had I said it? For no particular reason, save to keep up a commonplace conversation in which I took no absorbing interest. It was a direct challenge. Young Dale stopped playing with the Chow dog and grinned. It behooved me to say something. I said it with a bow and a wave of my hand:
"Because, though your father was a lion-tamer, your mother was a woman."
She appeared to reflect for a moment; then addressing Dale:
"The answer doesn"t amount to a ha"porth of cats"-meat, but you couldn"t have got out of it like that."
I was again disconcerted, but I remarked that he would learn in time when my mentorship was over and I handed him, a finished product, to society.