It was not often that Ann occasion to at the presence in her uncle's house of the six Mrs. Pett had therein. As a rule, she them and collectively. But to-day their company was welcome to her. They might have their faults, but at least their presence to keep the and prevent it a Lord Wisbeach and Jimmy on the of old times. She was still weak from the upon the of the of her on Lord Wisbeach Jimmy as an old acquaintance. She had that that would be surmounted. She had pictured Lord Wisbeach with a puzzled on his and an "But this is not Jimmy Crocker." The had left her relieved, but in no mood for conversation, and she to the of Howard Bemis, the poet, who sat on her left. She looked the table. Willie Partridge was talking to Mrs. Pett about the picric and trinitrotoluene, than which a for the table be selected, and the voice of Clarence Renshaw rose above all other noises, as he spoke of the functions of the spondee. There was nothing to this from any other which she had of late in that house.
The only thing that her being was the that she see Lord Wisbeach at Jimmy, who was with the of one who, after days of boarding-house fare, himself in the presence of the of a chef. In the past days Jimmy had too much to worry now about anything like a glance. He had Lord Wisbeach's eye, and had no that at the of the he would occasion for a little chat. Meanwhile, however, his was his and their restoration. He helped himself from a dish which his father offered him.
He aware that Mrs. Pett was him.
"I your pardon?"
"Quite like old times," said Mrs. Pett genially. Her had since Lord Wisbeach's of the visitor, and that she should have him her amiable. "Being with Skinner again," she explained. "It must you of London."
Jimmy his father's eye.
"Skinner's," he said handsomely, "is a one cannot help but respect. His nature one like some flower."
The dish in Mr. Crocker's hand, but his impassive.
"There is no in Skinner," Jimmy. "His is the of a little child."
Mrs. Pett looked at this of the in a way. She had an that she was being laughed at. She to Jimmy again.
"For many years Skinner has been a father to me," said Jimmy. "Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some tell, Or the place to make it well? Skinner."
For all her suspense, Ann not help an who off an with such a flourish. She had always herself with a of as of no stock of and resource, but she not have spoken then without her anxiety. She of Jimmy, but all the same she not help that he would not make himself so conspicuous. Perhaps—the her—perhaps he was a new Jimmy Crocker, a which would Skinner and Lord Wisbeach to the of their and to the truth. She she him to down, but the table was a large one and he and she were at opposite ends of it.
Jimmy, meanwhile, was himself. He that he was being the little of about the home and making a good impression. He was happy. He liked the food, he liked his father buttle, and he liked these who were, it appeared, fellow-inmates with him of this residence. He that old Mr. Pett have been present. He had a great for Mr. Pett, and registered a to no time in him from his of the office to with his pleasures. He was a little to the Polo Grounds, in which Mr. Pett, his father, and a number of bottles were to be his companions, when his was by a of the of talk. He looked up from his plate, to the entire company Willie Partridge open-mouthed. Willie, with eyes, was at a small test-tube which he had produced from his pocket and his plate.
"I have in this test-tube," said Willie airily, "to New York to bits."
The was by a crash in the background. Mr. Crocker had a chafing-dish.
"If I were to this little like that," said Willie, using the as a illustration, "we shouldn't be here."
"Don't it," Jimmy. "What is it?"
"Partridgite!"
Mrs. Pett had from the table, with face.
"Willie, how can you that here? What are you of?"
Willie a smile.
"There is not the danger, aunt Nesta. It cannot without concussion. I have been it about with me all the morning."
He on the test-tube the look a parent might give his child. Mrs. Pett was not reassured.
"Go and put it in your uncle's safe at once. Put it away."
"I haven't the combination."
"Call your uncle up at once at the office and ask him."
"Very well. If you wish it, aunt Nesta. But there is no danger."
"Don't take that thing with you," Mrs. Pett, as he rose. "You might it. Come for it."
"Very well."
Conversation after Willie's departure. The presence of the test-tube to act on the of the company after the fashion of the at the Egyptian banquet. Howard Bemis, who was next to it, away till he nearly Ann off her chair. Presently Willie returned. He up the test-tube, put it in his pocket with a jauntiness, and left the room again.
"Now, if you a and through the roof," said Jimmy, "that will be it."
Willie returned and took his place at the table again. But the had gone out of the gathering. The voice of Clarence Renshaw was hushed, and Howard Bemis spoke no more of the of Edgar Lee Masters on modern literature. Mrs. Pett left the room, by Ann. The away one by one. Jimmy, having a cigarette and his coffee, that he was alone with his old friend, Lord Wisbeach, and that his old friend Lord Wisbeach was about to confidential.
The fair-haired man opened the by going to the door and looking out. This done, he returned to his seat and at Jimmy.
"What's your game?" he asked.
Jimmy returned his blandly.
"My game?" he said. "What do you mean?"
"Can the stuff," his brusquely. "Talk and talk it quick. We may be at any moment. What's your game? What are you here for?"
Jimmy his eyebrows.
"I am a nephew returned to the fold."
"Oh, your kidding. Are you one of Potter's lot?"
"Who is Potter?"
"You know who Potter is."
"On the contrary. My life has been by so much as a of Potter."
"Is that true?"
"Absolutely."
"Are you on your own, then?"
"I am not at all at present. There is some talk of my learning to be an Asparagus Adjuster by later on."
"You make me sick," said Lord Wisbeach. "Where's the of trying to this line of talk. Why not put your cards on the table? We've got in here on the same lay, and there's no use and the thing up."
"Do you wish me to understand," said Jimmy, "that you are not my old friend, Lord Wisbeach?"
"No. And you're not my old friend, Jimmy Crocker."
"What makes you think that?"
"If you had been, would you have to me just now? I tell you, pal, I was all in for a second, till you gave me the high sign."
Jimmy laughed.
"It would have been for you if I had been Jimmy Crocker, wouldn't it?"
"And it would have been for you if I had been Lord Wisbeach."
"Who are you, by the way?"
"The boys call me Gentleman Jack."
"Why?" asked Jimmy, surprised.
Lord Wisbeach the question.
"I'm with Burke's just now. Say, let's be about this. I'll be with you, as a string."
"Did you say or spring?"
"And I'll you to be with me."
"Are we to breathe into each other's ears?"
Lord Wisbeach to the door again and submitted the passage to a second examination.
"You nervous," said Jimmy.
"I don't like that butler. He's up to something."
"Do you think he's one of Potter's lot?"
"Shouldn't wonder. He isn't on the level, anyway, or why did he to you as Jimmy Crocker?"
"Recognition of me as Jimmy Crocker to be the test of honesty."
"He was in a tight place, same as I was," said Lord Wisbeach. "He couldn't know that you weren't Jimmy Crocker until you put him wise—same as you did me—by to know him." He looked at Jimmy with admiration. "You'd got your nerve with you, pal, in here like this. You were taking big chances. You couldn't have you wouldn't up against some one who Jimmy Crocker. What would you have done if this guy had been on the level?"
"The of the profession!"
"When I think of the work I had to put in," said Lord Wisbeach, "it makes me to think of some one else just walking in here as you did."
"What you choose Lord Wisbeach as your alias?"
"I that I away with it. I came over on the with him, and I he was the world and wasn't going to more than a day in New York. Even then I had to go some to into this place. Burke told me to of old Chester and a of from him. And here you come along and just in and tell them you have come to stay!" He for a moment on the of things. "Well, what are you going to do about it, Pal?"
"About what?"
"About us being here? Are you going to be and work in with me and up later on, or are you going to by trying to the whole thing? I'll be square with you. It isn't as if there was any use in trying to each other. We're here for the same thing. You want to of that stuff, that Partridgite, and so do I."
"You in Partridgite, then?"
"Oh, can it," said Lord Wisbeach disgustedly. "What's the use? Of I in it. Burke's had his on the thing for a year. You've of Dwight Partridge, haven't you? Well, this guy's his son. Every one that Dwight Partridge was on an when he died, and here's his son comes along with a test-tube full of which he says this city to bits. What's the answer? The boy's been on the old man's dope. From what I've of him, I there wasn't much more to be done on it, or he wouldn't have done it. He's well from the up, as as I can see. But that doesn't the that he's got the and that you and I have got to together and make a deal. If we don't, I'm not saying you mightn't my game, just as I might yours; but where's the in that? It only means taking chances. Whereas if we in together, there's in it for of us. You know as well as I do that there's a dozen markets which'll against each other for like that Partridgite. If you're about Burke you a square deal, it. I'll Burke. He'll you nice, all right."
Jimmy ground the of his cigarette against his plate.
"I'm no orator, as Brutus is; but, as you know me all, a plain, man. And, speaking in the of a plain, man, I to reply—Nothing doing."
"What? You won't come in?"
Jimmy his head.
"I'm sorry to you, Wizzy, if I may still call you that, but your offer fails to attract. I will not together or in or anything else. On the contrary, I am about to go to Mrs. Pett and her that there is a in her Eden."
"You're not going to on me?"
"At the top of my voice."
Lord Wisbeach laughed unpleasantly.
"Yes, you will," he said. "How are you going to why you me as an old if I'm a after lunch. You can't give me away without away. If I'm not Lord Wisbeach, then you're not Jimmy Crocker."
Jimmy sighed. "I you. Life is very complex, isn't it?"
Lord Wisbeach rose.
"You'd think it over, son," he said. "You aren't going to by acting like a fool. You can't stop me going after this stuff, and if you won't come in and go fifty-fifty, you'll left. I'll you to it."
He left the room, and Jimmy, a fresh cigarette, himself to the of this new in his affairs. It was true what Gentleman Jack or Joe or the "boys" called him had said. To him meant himself. Jimmy thoughtfully. Not for the time he that his record the past years had been of a character. He to what must have been the of Dr. Jekyll under the of his second self, Mr. Hyde.
