Part 26 (1/2)

Mr. Fentolin smiled. His chair receded an inch or two. There was never a time when his expression had seemed more seraphic.

”There is no emergency of that sort,” he remarked, ”for which I am not prepared.”

His little revolver gleamed for a minute beneath his cuff. He backed his chair slowly and with wonderful skill towards the door.

”We will fix the period of your probation, Mr. Dunster, at--say, twenty-four hours,” he decided. ”Please make yourself until then entirely at home. My cook, my cellar, my cigar cabinets, are at your disposal. If some happy impulse,” he concluded, ”should show you the only reasonable course by dinnertime, it would give me the utmost pleasure to have you join us at that meal. I can promise you a cheque beneath your plate which even you might think worth considering, wine in your gla.s.s which kings might sigh for, cigars by your side which even your Mr. Pierpont Morgan could not buy. Au revoir!”

The door opened and closed. Mr. Dunster sat staring into the open s.p.a.ce like a man still a little dazed.

CHAPTER XVIII

The beautiful but somewhat austere front of St. David's Hall seemed, in a sense, transformed, as Hamel and his companion climbed the worn grey steps which led on to the broad sweep of terrace. Evidently visitors had recently arrived. A dark, rather good-looking woman, with pleasant round face and a ceaseless flow of conversation, was chattering away to Mr. Fentolin. By her side stood another woman who was a stranger to Hamel--thin, still elegant, with tired, worn face, and the shadow of something in her eyes which reminded him at once of Esther. She wore a large picture hat and carried a little Pomeranian dog under her arm. In the background, an insignificant-looking man with grey side-whiskers and spectacles was beaming upon everybody. Mr. Fentolin waved his hand and beckoned to Hamel and Esther as they somewhat hesitatingly approached.

”This is one of my fortunate mornings, you see, Esther!” he exclaimed, smiling. ”Lady Saxthorpe has brought her husband over to lunch. Lady Saxthorpe,” he added, turning to the woman at his side, ”let me present to you the son of one of the first men to realise the elusive beauty of our coast. This is Mr. Hamel, son of Peter Hamel, R.A.--the Countess of Saxthorpe.”

Lady Saxthorpe, who had been engaged in greeting Esther, held out her hand and smiled good-humouredly at Hamel.

”I know your father's work quite well,” she declared, ”and I don't wonder that you have made a pilgrimage here. They tell me that he painted nineteen pictures--pictures of importance, that is to say --within this little area of ten miles. Do you paint, Mr. Hamel?”

”Not at all,” Hamel answered.

”Our friend Hamel,” Mr. Fentolin intervened, ”woos other and sterner muses. He fights nature in distant countries, spans her gorges with iron bridges, stems the fury of her rivers, and carries to the boundary of the world that little twin line of metal which brings men like ants to the work-heaps of the universe. My dear Florence,” he added, suddenly turning to the woman at his other side, ”for the moment I had forgotten.

You have not met our guest yet. Hamel, this is my sister-in-law, Mrs.

Seymour Fentolin.”

She held out her hand to him, unnaturally thin and white, covered with jewels. Again he saw something in her eyes which stirred him vaguely.

”It is so nice that you are able to spend a few days with us, Mr.

Hamel,” she said quietly. ”I am sorry that I have been too indisposed to make your acquaintance earlier.”

”And,” Mr. Fentolin continued, ”you must know my young friend here, too.

Mr. Hamel--Lord Saxthorpe.”

The latter shook hands heartily with the young man.

”I knew your father quite well,” he announced. ”Queer thing, he used to hang out for months at a time at that little shanty on the beach there.

Hardest work in the world to get him away. He came over to dine with us once or twice, but we saw scarcely anything of him. I hope his son will not prove so obdurate.”

”You are very kind,” Hamel murmured.

”Mr. Hamel came into these parts to claim his father's property,” Mr.

Fentolin said. ”However, I have persuaded him to spend a day or two up here before he transforms himself into a misanthrope. What of his golf, Esther, eh?”

”Mr. Hamel plays very well, indeed,” the girl replied.

”Your niece was too good for me,” Hamel confessed.

Mr. Fentolin smiled.