★ 8 ★::A Gentleman of Leisure
At Dreever
In the days the Welshman to his energy in playing Rugby football he was accustomed, the of his life to him, to a friends and make across the border into England, to the of the on the other side. It was to with this that Dreever Castle, in Shropshire, came into existence. It met a long-felt want. In time of trouble it a of refuge. From all people into it, when the had disappeared. In the whole history of the there is but one recorded of a attempting to take the place by storm, and the attack was an failure. On receipt of a of lead, to a by one John, the Chaplain—evidently one of those parsons—this retired, done to a turn, to his fastnesses, and is of again. He would seem, however, to have passed the word among his friends, for parties the castle, and a who had succeeded in its was for the to be “home” and out of the game.
Such was Dreever in the times. To-day the Welshman having considerably, it had its character. The old still stood, grey, menacing, and unchanged, but they were the only link with the past. The was now a very country-house, over by Hildebrand Spencer Poyns de Burgh John Hannasyde Coombe-Crombie, Earl of Dreever (“Spennie” to his relatives and intimates), but in the of his uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas and Lady Julia Blunt.
Spennie’s position was one of some embarrassment. At no point in their history had the Dreevers been what one might call a family. If a presented itself of money in a particularly wild and manner, the Dreever of the period had at it with the of an 49bloodhound. The South Sea Bubble £200,000 of good Dreever money, and the of the family was to the by the who had the title in the days of the Regency, when Watier’s and the Cocoa Tree were in their prime, and had a of in a single evening. When Spennie Earl of Dreever there was about in the old chest.
This is the point at which Sir Thomas Blunt into Dreever history. Sir Thomas was a small, pink, fussy, man, with a for and the of a Napoleon, one of the and most complete of the came-over-Waterloo-Bridge-with-half-a-crown-in-my-pocket-and-now-look-at-me class of in existence. He had started almost with nothing. By from his mind every that of making money, he had in the world with a which nothing check. At the age of fifty-one he was of Blunt’s Stores, Ltd., a of Parliament, as a figure, but a great to the party by of to its funds, and a knight. This was good, but he still higher; and, meeting Spennie’s aunt, Lady Julia Coombe-Crombie, just at the moment when, financially, the Dreevers were at their ebb, he had a very satisfactory by marrying her, as one might say, the of Dreever, Ltd. Until Spennie should money, an act on which his insisted, Sir Thomas the purse, and, in minor ordered by his wife, of he in awe, had his own way.
One afternoon, a year after the events recorded in the chapter, he was in his private room, looking out of the window. The view from that window was very beautiful. The on a hill, the of which, the house and the lake, had been cut into terraces. The itself, with its with the little in the centre, was a of Fairyland.
But it was not the of the view that had Sir Thomas to the window. He was looking at it more the position him to avoid his wife’s eye; and, just at the moment, he was to avoid his wife’s eye. A meeting was in progress, and Lady Julia, who the of directors, had been the chairman. 50The point under was one of etiquette, and in of Sir Thomas himself at a disadvantage.
“I tell you, my dear,” he said to the window, “I am not easy in my mind.”
“Nonsense!” Lady Julia. “Absurd! Ridiculous!”
Lady Julia Blunt, when conversing, a Maxim gun more than anything else.
“But your diamonds, my dear?”
“I can take of them.”
“But why should you have the trouble? Now, if we——”
“It’s no trouble.”
“When we were married there was a detective——”
“Don’t be childish, Thomas. Detectives at are customary.”
“But——”
“Bah——”
“I paid twenty thousand for that rope of pearls,” said Sir Thomas obstinately. Switch on to a cash and he was more himself.
“May I ask if you any of our guests of being criminals?” Lady Julia, frostily.
Sir Thomas looked out of the window. At the moment the have nothing to at in the movements of such of the house-party as were in sight. Some were playing tennis, some clock golf, and others were smoking.
“Why not,” he began.
“Of course. Absurd! Quite absurd!”
“But the servants. We have a number of new lately.”
“With excellent recommendations.”
Sir Thomas was on the point of that the might be forged, but his failed him. Julia was sometimes so in these little discussions. She did not enter into his point of view. He was always a to the as a branch of Blunt’s Stores. As of the stores he had a point of everybody, and the results had been excellent. In Blunt’s Stores you move in any direction without into a disguised. For the life of him Sir Thomas not see why the same should not obtain at Dreever. Guests at a country house do not as a their host’s possessions, but then it is 51only an occasional at a store who goes in for shop lifting. It was the of the thing, he thought. Be prepared against every emergency. With Sir Thomas Blunt was almost a mania. He was to admit that the were against any of his guests tendencies, but, as for the servants, he them all Saunders, the butler. It had to him the that a from a private agency should be at the while the house was full. Somewhat he had mentioned this to his wife, and Lady Julia’s of the had been and unflattering.
“I suppose,” said Lady Julia sarcastically, “you will jump to the that this man Spennie is with him to-day is a of some sort?”
“Eh? Is Spennie a friend?”
There was not a great of in Sir Thomas’s voice. His nephew was not a man he very highly. Spennie his uncle with apprehension, as one who would with his with and severity. Sir Thomas, for his part, looked on Spennie as a who would into unless he had an on him. So he to that eye.
“I had a wire from him just now.”
“Who is his friend?”
“He doesn’t say. He just says he’s a man he met in London.”
“H’m!”
“And what ‘H’m!’ mean?” Lady Julia.
“A man can up people in London,” said Sir Thomas judicially.
“Nonsense.”
“Just as you say, my dear.”
Lady Julia rose.
“As for what you about the detective, it is, of course, absurd.”
“Quite so, my dear.”
“You mustn’t think of it.”
“Just as you say, my dear.”
Lady Julia left the room.
What may some to the of Sir Thomas Blunt’s in the world. It of purpose, which is one of the of success.
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No sooner had the door closed Lady Julia than he to his writing-table, took pen and paper, and the letter:
“To the Manager, Wragge’s Detective Agency, Holborn Bars, London, E.C.
“Sir,—With to my last of the 28th ult., I should be if you would send one of your best men. Am making to him. Kindly him to present himself at Dreever Castle as for position of to myself. I will see and him on his arrival, and him in his duties.—Yours faithfully, Thos. Blunt.
“P.S.—I shall him to-morrow evening. There is a good train Paddington at 2.15.”
He read it over and put in a of commas, then it in an envelope, and a cigar with the air of one who can be checked—yes, but vanquished, never.
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