"You may, but you lose a second time. I"ve just made up my mind I"m not going to hang round here any longer. That"s all."
"But," Robbins ventured, hovering about with exasperating solicitude--"but Mr. Kellogg"d never permit you to leave in this way, sir."
"Wrong again, Robbins," said Duncan curtly, annoyed.
"Yes, sir. Very good, sir." With the instinct of the well-trained servant, Robbins started to leave, but hesitated. He was really very much disturbed by Duncan"s manner, which showed a phase of his character new in Robbins" experience of him. Ordinarily reverses such as this had seemed merely to serve to put Duncan on his mettle, to infuse him with a determination to try again and win out, whatever the odds; and at such times he was accustomed to exhibit a mad irresponsibility of wit and a gaiety of spirit (whether it were a mask or no) that only outrivalled his high good humour when things ostensibly were going well with him.
Intermittently, between his spasms of employment, he had been Kellogg"s guest for several years, not infrequently for months at a time; and so Robbins had come to feel a sort of proprietary interest in the young man, second only to the regard which he had for his employer. Like most people with whom Duncan came in contact, Robbins admired him from a respectful distance, and liked him very well withal. He would have been much distressed to have harm happen to him, and he was very much concerned and alarmed to see him so candidly discouraged and sick at heart. Perhaps too quick to draw an inference, Robbins mistrusted his intentions; his dour habit boded ill in the servant"s understanding: men in such moods were apt to act unwisely. But if only he might contrive to delay Duncan until Kellogg"s return, he thought the former might yet be saved from the consequences of folly of some insensate sort. And casting about for an excuse, he grasped at the most sovereign solace he knew of.
"Beg pardon, sir," he advanced, hesitant, "but perhaps you"re just feeling a bit blue. Won"t you let me bring you a drop of something?"
"Of course I will," said Duncan emphatically over his shoulder. "And get it now, will you, while I"m packing.... And, Robbins!"
"Sir?"
"Only put a little in it."
"A little what, sir?"
"Seltzer, of course."
II
TO HIM THAT HATH
It had been a forlorn hope at best, this attempt of his to escape Kellogg: Duncan acknowledged it when, his packing rudely finished, he started for the door, Robbins reluctantly surrendering the suit-case after exhausting his repertoire of devices to delay the young man. But at that instant the elevator gate clashed in the outer corridor and Kellogg"s key rattled in the lock, to an accompanying confusion of voices, all masculine and all very cheerful.
Duncan sighed and motioned Robbins away with his luggage. "No hope now," he told himself. "But--O Lord!"
Incontinently there burst into the room four men: Jim Long, Larry Miller, another whom Duncan did not immediately recognise, and Kellogg himself, bringing with them an atmosphere breezy with jubilation.
Before he knew it Duncan was boisterously overwhelmed. He got his breath to find Kellogg pumping his hand.
"Nat," he was saying, "you"re the only other man on earth I was wishing could be with me tonight! Now my happiness is complete. Gad, this is lucky!"
"You think so?" countered Duncan, forcing a smile. "h.e.l.lo, you boys!"
He gave a hand to Long and Miller. "How"re you all?" He warmed to their friendly faces and unfeigned welcome. "My, but it"s good to see you!"
There was relief in the fact that Kellogg, after a single glance, forbore to question his return; he was to be counted upon for tact, was Kellogg. Now he strangled surprise by turning to the fourth member of the party.
"Nat," he said, "I want you to meet Mr. Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett, Mr.
Duncan."
A wholesome smile dawned on Duncan"s face as he encountered the blank blue stare of a young man whose very smooth and very bright red face was admirably set off by semi-evening dress. "Great Scott!" he cried, warmly pressing the lackadaisical hand that drifted into his. "w.i.l.l.y Bartlett--after all these years!"
A sudden animation replaced the vacuous stare of the blue eyes.
"Duncan!" he stammered. "I say, this is rippin"!"
"As bad as that?" Duncan essayed an accent almost English and nodded his appreciation of it: something which Bartlett missed completely.
He was very young--a very great deal younger, Duncan thought, than when they had been cla.s.smates, what time Duncan shared his rooms with Kellogg: very much younger and suffering exquisitely from over-sophistication. His drawl barely escaped being inimitable; his air did not escape it. "Smitten with my old trouble," Duncan appraised him: "too much money... Heaven knows I hope he never recovers!"
As for w.i.l.l.y, he was momentarily more nearly human than he had seemed from the moment of his first appearance. "You know," he blurted, "this is simply extraordinary. I say, you chaps, Duncan and I haven"t met for years--not since he graduated. We belonged to the same frat, y"know, and had a jolly time of it, if he was an upper-cla.s.s man. No side about him at all, y"know--absolutely none whatever. Whenever I had to go out on a spree, I"d always get Nat to show me round."
"I was pretty good at that," Duncan admitted a trifle ruefully.
But w.i.l.l.y rattled on, heedless. "He knew more pretty gels, y"know... I say, old chap, d"you know as many now?"
Duncan shook his head. "The list has shrunk. I"m a changed man, w.i.l.l.y."
"Ow, I say, you"re chawfin"," w.i.l.l.y argued incredulously. "I don"t believe that, y"know--hardly. I say, you remember the night you showed me how to play faro bank?"
"I"ll never forget it," Duncan told him gravely. "And I remember what a plug we thought my room-mate was because he wouldn"t come with us." He nodded significantly toward the amused Kellogg.
"Not him!" cried w.i.l.l.y, expostulant. "Not really? Why it cawn"t be!"
"Fact," Duncan a.s.sured him. "He was working his way through college, you see, whereas I was working my way through my allowance--and then some. That"s why you never met him, w.i.l.l.y: he worked--and got the habit. We loafed--with the same result. That"s why he"s useful and you"re ornamental, and I"m--" He broke off in surprise. "h.e.l.lo!" he said as Robbins offered a tray to the three on which were slim-stemmed gla.s.ses filled with a pale yellow, effervescent liquid. "Why the blond waters of excitement, please?" he inquired, accepting a gla.s.s.
From across the room Larry Miller"s voice sounded. "Are you ready, gentlemen? We"ll drink to him first and then he can drink to his royal little self. To the boy who"s getting on in the world! To the junior member of L.J. Bartlett and Company!"
Long applauded loudly: "Hear! Hear!" And even w.i.l.l.y Bartlett chimed in with an unemotional: "Good work!" Mechanically Duncan downed the toast; Kellogg was the only man not drinking it, and from that the meaning was easily to be inferred. With a stride Duncan caught his hand and crushed it in his own.
"Harry," he said a little huskily, "I can"t tell you how glad I am!
It"s the best news I"ve had in years!"
Kellogg"s responsive pressure was answer enough. "It makes it doubly worth while, to win out and have you all so glad!" he said.
"So you"ve taken him into the firm, eh?" Duncan inquired of Bartlett.
The blue eyes widened stonily. "The governor has. I"m not in the business, y"know. Never had the slightest turn for it, what?" w.i.l.l.y set aside his gla.s.s. "I say, I must be moving. No, I cawn"t stop, Kellogg, really. I was dressin" at the club and Larry told me about it, so I just dropped round to tell you how jolly glad I am."
"Your father hadn"t told you, then?"
"Who, the governor?" w.i.l.l.y looked unutterably bored. "Why, he gave up tryin" to talk business with me long ago. I can"t get interested in it, "pon my word. Of course I knew he thought the deuce and all of you, but I hadn"t an idea they were goin" to take you into the firm. What?"
Long and Miller interrupted, proposing adieus which Kellogg vainly contended.
"Why, you"re only just here--" he expostulated.
"Cawn"t help it, old chap," w.i.l.l.y a.s.sured him earnestly. "I must go, anyway. I"ve a dinner engagement."
"You"ll be late, won"t you?"
"Doesn"t matter in the least; I"m always late. "Night, Kellogg.
Congratulations again."