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just await my kingly pleasure. Virginia, do you remember my telling you once that Iād have a damned good try to make you care for me.ā
āI remember,ā said Virginia softly. āBut Superintendent Battle was looking out of the window.ā
āWell, he isnāt now,ā said Anthony.
He caught her suddenly to him, kissing her eyelids, her lips, the green gold of her hair....
āI do love you so, Virginia,ā he whispered. āI do love you so. Do you love me?ā
He looked down at herāsure of the answer.
Her head rested against his shoulder, and very low, in a sweet shaken voice, she answered:
āNot a bit!ā
āYou little devil,ā cried Anthony, kissing her again. āNow I know for certain that I shall love you until I die....ā
31
Sundry Details
SceneāChimneys, 11 A.M. Thursday morning.
Johnson, the police constable, with his coat off, digging.
Something in the nature of a funeral feeling seems to be in the air. The friends and relations stand round the grave that Johnson is digging.
George Lomax has the air of the principal beneficiary under the will of the deceased. Superintendent Battle, with his immovable face, seems pleased that the funeral arrangements have gone so nicely. As the undertaker, it reflects credit upon him. Lord Caterham has that solemn and shocked look which Englishmen assume when a religious ceremony is in progress.
Mr. Fish does not fit into the picture so well. He is not sufficiently grave.
Johnson bends to his task. Suddenly he straightens up. A little stir of excitement passes round.
āThatāll do, sonny,ā says Mr. Fish. āWe shall do nicely now.ā
One perceives at once that he is really the family physician.
Johnson retires. Mr. Fish, with due solemnity, stoops over the excavation. The surgeon is about to operate.
He brings out a small canvas package. With much ceremony he hands it to Superintendent Battle. The latter, in his turn, hands it to George Lomax. The etiquette of the situation has now been fully complied with.
George Lomax unwraps the package, slits up the oil-silk inside it, burrows into further wrapping. For a moment he holds something on the palm of his handāthen quickly shrouds it once more in cotton wool.
He clears his throat.
āAt this auspicious minute,ā he begins, with the clear delivery of the practised speaker.
Lord Caterham beats a precipitate retreat. On the terrace he finds his daughter.
āBundle, is that car of yours in order?ā
āYes. Why?ā
āThen take me up to town in it immediately. Iām going abroad at onceāto-day.ā
āBut, fatherāāā
āDonāt argue with me, Bundle. George Lomax told me when he arrived this morning that he was anxious to have a few words with me privately on a matter of the utmost delicacy. He added that the King of Timbuctoo was arriving in London shortly. I wonāt go through it again, Bundle, do you hear? Not for fifty George Lomaxes! If Chimneys is so valuable to the nation, let the nation buy it. Otherwise I shall sell it to a syndicate and they can turn it into an hotel.ā
āWhere is Codders now?ā
Bundle is rising to the situation.
āAt the present minute,ā replied Lord Caterham, looking at his watch, āhe is good for at least fifteen minutes about the Empire.ā
Another picture.
Mr. Bill Eversleigh, not invited to be present at the graveside ceremony, at the telephone.
āNo, really, I mean it.... I say, donāt be huffy.... Well, you will have supper to-night anyway?... No, I havenāt. Iāve been kept to it with my nose at the grindstone. Youāve no idea what Codders is like.... I say, Dolly, you know jolly well what I think about you.... You know Iāve never cared for anyone but you.... Yes, Iāll come to the show first. How does the old wheeze go? āAnd the little girl tries, Hooks and Eyesā....ā
Unearthly sounds. Mr. Eversleigh trying to hum the refrain in question.
And now Georgeās peroration draws to a close.
... āthe lasting peace and prosperity of the British Empire!ā
āI guess,ā said Mr. Hiram Fish sotto voce to himself and the world at large, āthat this has been a great little old week.ā
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
The cover image was prepared by the transcriber and has been placed in the public domain.
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