"Why don"t you?"
"How can I? There may be an election coming on at any moment. I can"t stir."
Freddie leaped from his seat. The suddenness of the action sent a red-hot corkscrew of pain through Derek"s head.
"What the devil"s the matter?" he demanded irritably. Even the gentle mood which comes with convalescence after a City Dinner is not guaranteed to endure against this sort of thing.
"I"ve got an idea, old bean!"
"Well, there"s no need to dance, is there?"
"I"ve nothing to keep me here, you know. What"s the matter with my popping over to America and finding Jill?" Freddie tramped the floor, aglow. Each beat of his foot jarred Derek, but he made no complaint.
"Could you?" he asked eagerly.
"Of course I could. I was saying only the other day that I had half a mind to buzz over. It"s a wheeze! I"ll get on the next boat and charge over in the capacity of a jolly old amba.s.sador. Have her back in no time. Leave it to me, old thing! This is where I come out strong!"
CHAPTER NINE
1.
New York welcomed Jill, as she came out of the Pennsylvania Station into Seventh Avenue, with a whirl of powdered snow that touched her cheek like a kiss, the cold, bracing kiss one would expect from this vivid city. She stood at the station entrance, a tiny figure beside the huge pillars, looking round her with eager eyes. A wind was whipping down the avenue. The sky was a clear, brilliant tent of the brightest blue. Energy was in the air, and hopefulness. She wondered if Mr Elmer Mariner ever came to New York. It was hard to see how even his gloom would contrive to remain unaffected by the exhilaration of the place.
Yes, New York looked good ... good and exciting, with all the taxi-cabs rattling in at the dark tunnel beside her, with all the people hurrying in and hurrying out, with all this medley of street-cars and sky-signs and crushed snow and drays and horses and policemen, and that vast hotel across the street, towering to heaven like a cliff. It even smelt good. She remembered an old picture in Punch, of two country visitors standing on the step of their railway carriage at a London terminus, one saying ecstatically to other: "Don"t speak! Just sniff! Doesn"t it smell of the Season!" She knew exactly how they had felt, and she approved of their att.i.tude. That was the right way to behave on being introduced to a great metropolis. She stood and sniffed reverently. But for the presence of the hurrying crowds, she could almost have imitated the example of that king who kissed the soil of his country on landing from his ship.
She took Uncle Chris" letter from her bag. He had written from an address on East Fifty-seventh Street. There would be just time to catch him before he went out to lunch. She hailed a taxi-cab which was coming out of the station.
It was a slow ride, halted repeatedly by congestion of the traffic, but a short one for Jill. She was surprised at herself, a Londoner of long standing, for feeling so provincial and being so impressed. But London was far away. It belonged to a life that seemed years ago and a world from which she had parted for ever. Moreover, this was undeniably a stupendous city through which her taxi-cab was carrying her. At Times Square the stream of the traffic plunged into a whirlpool, swinging out of Broadway to meet the rapids which poured in from east, west, and north. On Fifth Avenue all the automobiles in the world were gathered together. On the sidewalks, pedestrians, m.u.f.fled against the nipping chill of the crisp air, hurried to and fro. And, above, that sapphire sky spread a rich velvet curtain which made the tops of the buildings stand out like the white minarets of some eastern city of romance.
The cab drew up in front of a stone apartment house; and Jill, getting out, pa.s.sed under an awning through a sort of mediaeval courtyard, gay with potted shrubs, to an inner door. She was impressed. The very atmosphere was redolent of riches, and she wondered how in the world Uncle Chris had managed to acquire wealth on this scale in the extremely short s.p.a.ce of time which had elapsed since his landing. There bustled past her an obvious millionaire--or, more probably, a greater monarch of finance who looked down upon mere millionaires and out of the goodness of his heart tried to check a tendency to speak patronisingly to them. He was concealed to the eyebrows in a fur coat, and, reaching the sidewalk, was instantly absorbed in a large limousine. Two expensive-looking ladies followed him. Jill began to feel a little dazed. Evidently the tales one heard of fortunes acc.u.mulated overnight in this magic city were true, and one of them must have fallen to the lot of Uncle Chris. For n.o.body to whom money was a concern could possibly afford to live in a place like this. If Croesus and the Count of Monte Cristo had applied for lodging there, the authorities would probably have looked on them a little doubtfully at first and hinted at the desirability of a month"s rent in advance.
In a gla.s.s case behind the inner door, reading a newspaper and chewing gum, sat a dignified old man in the rich uniform of a general in the Guatemalan army. He was a brilliant spectacle. He wore no jewelry, but this, no doubt, was due to a private distaste for display. As there was no one else of humbler rank at hand from whom Jill could solicit an introduction and the privilege of an audience, she took the bold step of addressing him directly.
"I want to see Major Selby, please."
The Guatemalan general arrested for a moment the rhythmic action of his jaws, lowered his paper and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
At first Jill thought that he was registering haughty contempt, then she saw what she had taken for scorn was surprise.
"Major Selby?"
"Major Selby."
"No Major Selby living here."
"Major Christopher Selby."
"Not here," said the a.s.sociate of amba.s.sadors and the pampered pet of Guatemala"s proudest beauties. "Never heard of him in my life!"
2.
Jill had read works of fiction in which at certain crises everything had "seemed to swim" in front of the heroine"s eyes, but never till this moment had she experienced that remarkable sensation herself.
The Savior of Guatemala did not actually swim, perhaps, but he certainly flickered. She had to blink to restore his prismatic outlines to their proper sharpness. Already the bustle and noise of New York had begun to induce in her that dizzy condition of unreality which one feels in dreams, and this extraordinary statement added the finishing touch.
Perhaps the fact that she had said "please" to him when she opened the conversation touched the heart of the hero of a thousand revolutions. Dignified and beautiful as he was to the eye of the stranger, it is unpleasant to have to record that he lived in a world which rather neglected the minor courtesies of speech. People did not often say "please" to him. "Here!" "Hi!" and "Gosh darn you!" yes; but seldom "please." He seemed to approve of Jill, for he shifted his chewing-gum to a position which facilitated speech, and began to be helpful.
"What was the name again?"
"Selby."
"Howja spell it?"
"S-e-l-b-y."
"S-e-l-b-y. Oh, Selby?"
"Yes, Selby."
"What was the first name?"
"Christopher."
"Christopher?"
"Yes, Christopher."
"Christopher Selby? No one of that name living here."
"But there must be."
The veteran shook his head with an indulgent smile.
"You want Mr Sipperley," he said tolerantly. In Guatemala these mistakes are always happening. "Mr George Sipperley. He"s on the fourth floor. What name shall I say?"
He had almost reached the telephone when Jill stopped him. This is an age of just-as-good subst.i.tutes, but she refused to accept any unknown Sipperley as a satisfactory alternative for Uncle Chris.
"I don"t want Mr Sipperley. I want Major Selby."
"Howja spell it once more?"
"S-e-l-b-y."
"S-e-l-b-y. No one of that name living here. Mr. Sipperley--"--he spoke in a wheedling voice, as if determined, in spite of herself, to make Jill see what was in her best interests--"Mr Sipperley"s on the fourth floor. Gentleman in the real estate business," he added insinuatingly. "He"s got blond hair and a Boston bull-dog."
"He may be all you say, and he may have a dozen bulldogs ..."