Part 18 (1/2)

”I can hear you perfectly,” the Marquis acknowledged suavely. ”Pray continue.”

”Your lords.h.i.+p's bankers sent for me this morning,” Mr. Wadham went on, ”in connection with these shares. They thought it their duty to point out, either through us or by communication with you direct, that according to the advice of a most reliable broker, their commercial value is practically nil.”

”Is what?” the Marquis demanded.

”Nil--nix--not worth a cent,” Mr. Wadham, Junior, proclaimed emphatically.

The Marquis, in that slang phraseology which he would have been the first to decry, never turned a hair. He had not the least intention, moreover, of permitting his interlocutor at the other end of the telephone even a momentary sensation of triumph.

”You can present my compliments to the manager,” he said, ”and tell him that the value of the shares in question does not concern either him or his brokers. In any case, they could not possibly have any information concerning the company, as it is only just registered and has not yet commenced operations. You understand me, Mr. Wadham?”

”Perfectly, your lords.h.i.+p,” was the smooth reply. ”The fact remains, however, that the brokers do know something about the company and the persons interested in it, and that knowledge, I regret to say, is most unfavourable. We felt it our duty, therefore, to pa.s.s on these facts.”

”I am exceedingly obliged to you for your anxieties on my behalf,” the Marquis declared. ”My legal interests are, I am quite sure, safe in your hands. My financial affairs--my outside financial affairs, that is to say--I prefer to keep under my own control. I might remind you that these shares are supported, and came into my hands, in fact, through the agency of Mr. David Thain, the great financier.”

There was a moment's pause.

”I had not forgotten the fact,” Mr. Wadham admitted diffidently, ”and it certainly seems improbable that Mr. Thain would introduce a risky investment to your lords.h.i.+p within a few weeks of his arrival in this country. At the same time, we feel compelled, of course, to bring to your notice the broker's report.”

”Quite so,” the Marquis acquiesced. ”Kindly let the people concerned know that I am acting in this matter upon special information.

Good-day, Mr. Wadham. My compliments to your father.”

So the conversation terminated, but the Marquis for the remainder of that day felt as though just the shadow of a cloud rested upon his happiness. Twice he stared at the address of David's rooms, which occupied a prominent place upon his study table, but on both occasions he resisted the impulse to seek him out and obtain the rea.s.surance he needed. He buried himself instead in a Review.

Let.i.tia came in to see him on the way back from her aunt's tea party.

The Marquis carefully made a note of his place and laid down his periodical.

”You found your aunt well, I trust, dear?”

”Oh, she was all right,” Let.i.tia replied. ”She had an irritating lot of callers there, though.”

Her father nodded sympathetically.

”The extraordinary habit which people in our rank of life seem to have developed lately for making friends outside their own sphere is making Society very difficult,” he declared. ”Members of our own family are, I am afraid, amongst the transgressors. Whom did you meet this afternoon?”

Let.i.tia mentioned a few names listlessly.

”And Mr. Thain,” she concluded.

Her father betrayed his interest.

”Mr. Thain was there, eh? I understood that he was much averse to paying calls.”

”He looked as though he had been roped in,” Let.i.tia observed, ”and aunt was all over herself, apologising to him for having other people there.

She wanted to consult him, it seems, about something or other, and she turned him over to me until she was ready.”

”And you,” the Marquis enquired, with questioning sympathy, ”were perhaps bored?”