★ 18 ★::A Gentleman of Leisure
The Lochinvar Method
As Jimmy sat a last cigarette in his going to that night Spike Mullins came in. Jimmy had been over. He was one of those men who are at their best in a game. Imminent always had the of him up and an on his mind. The news he had that night had left him with determination, but that a of method would be needed. He must all on a single now. Young Lochinvar than Romeo must be his model. He to himself of anything that he wanted as as he wanted Molly. He also to that she was to Lord Dreever. He the hand of McEachern in the affair, though the did not clear up the by any means. Molly was a girl of character, not a of his lordship, to do what she was told in a of this kind. The whole thing puzzled him.
“Well, Spike?” he said.
He was not too pleased at the interruption. He was thinking, and he wanted to be alone.
Something appeared to have Spike. His was excited.
“Say, boss! Guess what. You know guy come afternoon?—de guy from de village, came old man McEachern.”
“Galer?” said Jimmy. “What about him?”
There had been an to the guests at the that afternoon. Mr. McEachern, walking in the village, had upon an old New York of his, who, England, had Dreever and was to see the castle. Mr. McEachern had him thither, him to Sir Thomas, and now Mr. Samuel Galer was a room on the same as Jimmy’s. He had appeared at dinner that night, a short, wooden-faced man, with no more than 119Hargate. Jimmy had not paid any particular attention to him.
“What about him?” he said.
“He’s a ‘sleut’, boss.”
“A what?”
“A ‘sleut’.”
“A detective?”
“Dat’s right. A cop.”
“What makes you think that?”
“T’ink! Why, I can tell by and feet, and de whole of dem. I out a from a of a t’ousand. He’s sure a ’nough ‘sleut’ all right, all right. I him at you, boss.”
“At me! Why at me? Why, of course, I see now. Our friend McEachern has got him in to on us.”
“Dat’s right, boss.”
“Of you may be mistaken.”
“Not me, boss. And, say, he ain’t de only one.”
“What, more detectives? They’ll have to put up ‘House Full’ at this rate. Who’s the other?”
“A what’s in de soivants’ hall. I wasn’t so sure of him at foist, but now I’m on to his curves. He’s a all right. He’s to Sir Tummas, second is; but he ain’t no vally! He’s come to see no one don’t de jools. Say, what do t’ink of jools, boss?”
“Finest I saw.”
“Yes, dat’s right. A hundred thousand set him back. Dey’re de limit, ain’t dey? Say, won’t you really——”
“Spike, I’m at you! Do you know you’re a regular Mephistopheles, Spike? Suppose I hadn’t an iron will, what would happen? You must select your of more carefully. You’re company for the of me.”
Spike despondently.
“But, boss——”
Jimmy his head.
“It can’t be done, my lad.”
“But it can, boss,” Spike. “It’s easy. I’ve been up to de room, and I de box what de is in. Why, it’s de ever! We as easy as pullin’ de out of a bottle. Why, say, dere’s been such a of a place for gettin’ of de as house. Dat’s right, boss. 120Why, look what I got afternoon, just snoopin’ and not trying to at all. It was just about.”
He his hand into his pocket and it out again. As he his Jimmy the of stones.
“What the——” he gasped.
Spike was looking at his treasure-trove with an air of proprietorship.
“Where on earth did you those?” asked Jimmy.
“Out of one of de rooms. Dey to one of de loidies. It was de old t’ing ever, boss. I just in when was nobody around, and was on de toible. I into anyt’ing so soft.”
“Spike!”
“Yes, boss.”
“Do you the room you took them from?”
“Sure. It was de on de——”
“Then just to me for a moment, my boy. When we’re at to-morrow you want to go to that room and put those back—all of them, mind you—just where you them. Do you understand?”
Spike’s had fallen.
“Put back, boss?” he faltered.
“Every single one of them.”
“Boss!” said Spike plaintively.
“Remember—every single one of them, just where it belongs. See?”
“Very well, boss.”
The in his voice would have moved the to pity. Gloom had Spike’s spirit. The had gone out of his life.
It had also gone out of the of a good many other people at the castle. This was mainly to the of the day of the theatricals.
For pure there are in the world that can with the final of an performance at a country house. Every day the more with and depression. The of the piece, if he is also the author of it, a of insanity. He at his moustache, if he has one; at his hair, if he has not. He to himself. He to occasional cries. The 121soothing which marked his in the disappears.
He no longer says with a smile, “Splendid, old man, splendid! Couldn’t be better. But I think we’ll take that over just once more, if you don’t mind.” Instead, he his and out, “Once more, please. This’ll do. At this we might just as well cut out the altogether. What’s that? No, it won’t be all right on the night! Now, then, once more; and do yourselves together this time.” After which the is resumed; and conversation, when the parties meet subsequently, is cold and strained.
Matters had this stage at the castle. Everybody was of the piece, and, but for the of the which (presumably) would the and if it were not to be produced, would have their places without a of regret. People who had to the best and parts were now that they had been with First Footman or Giles, a villager.
“I’ll an again as long as I live,” Charteris to Jimmy, almost tearfully. “It’s not good enough. Most of them aren’t word-perfect yet.”
“It’ll be all right——”
“Oh, don’t say it’ll be all right on the night.”
“I wasn’t going to,” said Jimmy. “I was going to say it’ll be all right after the night. People will soon how the thing went.”
“You’re a nice, of man, aren’t you?” said Charteris.
“Why worry?” said Jimmy. “If you go on like this, it’ll be Westminster Abbey for you in your prime. You’ll be brain fever.”
Jimmy himself was one of the who were cheerful. He was a at present from the of Mr. Samuel Galer, of New York. This lynx-eyed man, having been by Mr. McEachern to watch Jimmy, was doing so with a which would have the of a babe. If Jimmy to the billiard-room after dinner, Mr. Galer was there to keep him company. If, the of the day, he had occasion to a or a cigarette-case from his bedroom, he was sure, on emerging, to upon Mr. Galer in the corridor. The employees of 122Dodson’s Private Inquiry Agency in earning their salaries.
Occasionally, after these encounters, Jimmy would come upon Sir Thomas Blunt’s valet, the other man in Spike’s had the marks of the sleuth. He was the at these moments, and when with with great politeness. Jimmy that he must have come under in this case vicariously, through Spike. Spike, in the servants’ hall, would, of course, out to catch the of a on the look out for among the servants; and he himself, as Spike’s employer, had been marked as a possible confederate.
It him to think that these should be so on his account.
He had been Molly closely these days. So no of the had been made. It him that possibly it was being for public mention on the night of the theatricals. The whole would be at the then. There be no more moment. He Lord Dreever, and the said that he was right.
“There’s going to be a of after the show,” he said, “and it’ll be done then, I suppose. No out of it after that—it’ll be all over the county. Trust my uncle for that! He’ll on a table and it, shouldn’t wonder, and it’ll be in the Morning Post next day and Katie’ll see it. Only two days more! Oh, Lord!”
Jimmy that Katie was the Savoy girl, his had no particulars save that she was a and hadn’t a penny.
Only two days! Like the Battle of Waterloo, it was going to be a close-run affair. More than now he how much she meant to him, and there were moments when it to him that she, too, had to understand. That night on the somehow to have their relationship. He he had got closer to her—they were in touch. Before she had been frank, cheerful, unembarrassed; now he noticed a in her manner, a shyness. There was a them, but it was not the old barrier. He had to be one of a crowd.
But it was a against time. The day by, a blank, and the second, till now it was but a of hours. The last had come.
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Not Mr. Samuel Galer, of Dodson’s Private Inquiry Agency, have a more watch than did Jimmy those hours. There was no that afternoon, and the members of the company, in of collapse, about the grounds. First one, then another, would upon Molly, while Jimmy, from afar, their pertinacity.
At last she off alone, and Jimmy his ambush, followed.
She walked in the direction of the lake. It had been a hot, afternoon. There was in the air. Through the trees the invitingly.
She was at the water’s when Jimmy came up. Her was turned. She was with her a Canadian that alongside the bank. She started as he spoke. His on the soft had no sound.
“Can I take you out on the lake?” he said.
She did not answer for a moment. She was confused.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I—I’m waiting for Lord Dreever.”
Jimmy saw that she was nervous. There was in the air. She was looking away from him, out across the lake, and her was flushed.
“Won’t you?” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
Jimmy looked over his shoulder. Down the was the long of his lordship. He walked with jerkiness, not as one to a welcome tryst. As Jimmy looked up he the great of which on the terrace. In another minute he would appear them.
Gently, but with despatch, Jimmy a hand on either of Molly’s waist. The next moment he had her off her and her on to the in the of the canoe.
Then, jumping in himself with a that the rock, he the mooring-rope, the and pushed off.
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