Part 10 (1/2)
After running many kinds of machines in my time, I'm willing to own that this particular specimen defies me.”
Thurston had stripped and fitted various intricate mining appliances, but he had never struggled with a bicycle. So, when Helen accepted his offer of a.s.sistance, he wheeled the machine out upon the lawn and proceeded light-heartedly to dismantle it, while the Savine brothers lounged in cane chairs, encouraging him over their cigars. The dismantling was comparatively simple, but when the time for rea.s.sembling came, Thurston, who found that certain cups could not by any legitimate means be induced to screw home into their places, was perforce obliged to rest the machine upon two chairs and wriggle underneath it, where he reclined upon his back with grimy oil dripping upon his forehead. Red in the face, he crawled out to breathe at intervals, and Helen made stern efforts to conceal her mingled alarm and merriment, when Thomas Savine said:
”Will you take long odds, Thurston, that you never make that invention of his Satanic Majesty run straight again?”
Mrs. Savine cautioned the operator about sunstroke and apoplexy. When Thomas Savine caught Helen's eye, both laughed outright, and Geoffrey, mistaking the reason, felt hurt; he determined to conquer the bicycle or remain beneath it all night. When at last he succeeded in putting the various parts together and straightened his aching back, he hoped that he did not look so disgusted, grimy and savage as he undoubtedly felt.
”You must really let it alone,” said Helen. ”The sun is very hot, and perhaps, you might be more successful after luncheon. I have noticed that when mending bicycles a rest and refreshment sometimes prove beneficial.”
”That's so!” agreed Thomas Savine. ”Young Harry was wont to tackle it on just those lines. He used up several of my best Cubanos and a bottle of claret each time, before he had finished; and then I was never convinced that the thing went any better.”
”You must beware of ruining your health,” interposed Mrs. Savine.
”Mending bicycles frequently leads to an acc.u.mulation of malevolent humors. Did I interrupt you, Mr. Thurston?”
”I was only going to say that it is nearly finished, and that I should not like to be vanquished by an affair of this kind,” said Geoffrey with emphasis. ”Would it hurt the machine if I stood it upon its head, Miss Savine?”
”Oh, no, and I am so grateful,” Helen answered a.s.suringly, noticing guiltily that there were oil and red dust, besides many somber smears, upon the operator's face and jacket, while the skin was missing from several of his knuckles.
It was done at last, and Geoffrey sighed, while the rest of the party expressed surprise as well as admiration when the wheels revolved freely without click or groan. Julius Savine nodded, with more than casual approval, and Helen was gracious with her thanks.
”You look quite faint,” observed Mrs. Savine. ”It was the hot sun on your forehead, and the mental excitement. Such things are often followed by dangerous consequences, and you must take a dose of my elixir. Helen, dear, you know where to find the bottle.”
Julius Savine was guilty of a slight gesture of impatience. His brother laughed, while Helen seemed anxious to slip away. Geoffrey answered:
”I hardly think one should get very mentally excited over a bicycle. I feel perfectly well, and only somewhat greasy.”
”That is just one of the symptoms. Yes, you have hit it--greasy feeling!” broke in the amateur dispenser, who rarely relaxed her efforts until she had run down her victim. ”Helen, why don't you hunt round for that bottle?”
”I mean greasy externally,” explained Geoffrey in desperation, and again Thomas Savine chuckled, while Helen, who ground one little boot-heel into the gra.s.ses, deliberately turned away. Mrs. Savine, however, cheerfully departed to find the bottle, and soon returned with it and a wine gla.s.s. She filled the gla.s.s with an inky fluid which smelt unpleasant, and said to Geoffrey:
”You will be distinctly better the moment you have taken this!”
Geoffrey took the goblet, walked apart a few paces, and, making a wry face, heroically swallowed the bitter draught, after which Mrs. Savine, who beamed upon him, said:
”You feel quite differently, don't you?”
”Yes!” a.s.serted Geoffrey, truthfully, longing to add that he had felt perfectly well before and had now to make violent efforts to overcome his nausea.
His heroism had its reward, however, for when Helen returned from her wheel ride, she said: ”I was really ashamed when my aunt insisted on doctoring you, but you must take it as a compliment, because she only prescribes for the people she takes a fancy to. I hope the dose was not particularly nasty?”
”Sorry for you, Thurston, from experience!” cried Thomas Savine. ”When I see that bottle, I just vacate the locality. The taste isn't the worst of it by a long way.”
That night Julius Savine called Geoffrey into his study, and, spreading a roll of plans before him, offered terms, which were gladly accepted, for the construction of portions of several works. Savine said: ”I won't worry much about references. Your work speaks for itself, and the Roads and Trails surveyor has been talking about you. I'll take you, as you'll have to take me, on trust. I keep my eye on rising young men, and I have been watching you. Besides, the man who could master an obstinate bicycle the first time he wrestled with one must have some sense of his own, and it isn't everybody who would have swallowed that physic.”
”I could not well avoid doing so,” said Geoffrey, with a rueful smile.
”I feel I owe you an apology, but it's my sister-in-law's one weakness, and you have won her favor for the rest of your natural life,” Savine returned. ”You have had several distinguished fellow-sufferers, including provincial representatives and railroad directors, for to my horror she physicked a very famous one the last time he came. He did not suffer with your equanimity. In fact, he was almost uncivil, and said to me, 'If the secretary hadn't sent off your trestle contract, I should urge the board to reconsider it. Did you ask me here that your relatives might poison me, Savine?'”
Geoffrey laughed, and his host added:
”I want to talk over a good many details with you, and dare say you deserve a holiday--I know I do--so I shall retain you here for a week, at least. I take your consent for granted; it's really necessary.”