Part 5 (1/2)
”Quite so. Quite so.”
”Thank you very much, sir. We will move our things in.”
”Thank you very much, sir,” said Mike.
”Please, sir,” shouted Spiller, ”aren't I to have it? I'm next on the list, sir. I come next after Simpson. Can't I have it?”
”I'm afraid I have already promised it to Smith, Spiller. You should have spoken before.”
”But sir--”
Psmith eyed the speaker pityingly.
”This tendency to delay, Spiller,” he said, ”is your besetting fault.
Correct it, Edwin. Fight against it.”
He turned to Mr. Outwood.
”We should, of course, sir, always be glad to see Spiller in our study.
He would always find a cheery welcome waiting there for him. There is no formality between ourselves and Spiller.”
”Quite so. An excellent arrangement, Smith. I like this spirit of comrades.h.i.+p in my house. Then you will be with us on Sat.u.r.day?”
”On Sat.u.r.day, sir.”
”All this sort of thing, Spiller,” said Psmith, as they closed the door, ”is very, very trying for a man of culture. Look us up in our study one of these afternoons.”
5
GUERRILLA WARFARE
”There are few pleasures,” said Psmith, as he resumed his favorite position against the mantelpiece and surveyed the commandeered study with the pride of a householder, ”keener to the reflective mind than sitting under one's own rooftree. This place would have been wasted on Spiller; he would not have appreciated it properly.”
Mike was finis.h.i.+ng his tea. ”You're a jolly useful chap to have by you in a crisis, Smith,” he said with approval. ”We ought to have known each other before.”
”The loss was mine,” said Psmith courteously. ”We will now, with your permission, face the future for a while. I suppose you realize that we are now to a certain extent up against it. Spiller's hot Spanish blood is not going to sit tight and do nothing under a blow like this.”
”What can he do? Outwood's given us the study.”
”What would you have done if somebody had bagged your study?”
”Made it jolly hot for them!”
”So will Comrade Spiller. I take it that he will collect a gang and make an offensive movement against us directly he can. To all appearances we are in a fairly tight place. It all depends on how big Comrade Spiller's gang will be. I don't like rows, but I'm prepared to take on a reasonable number of a.s.sailants in defense of the home.”
Mike intimated that he was with him on the point. ”The difficulty is, though,” he said, ”about when we leave this room. I mean, we're all right while we stick here, but we can't stay all night.”
”That's just what I was about to point out when you put it with such admirable clearness. Here we are in a stronghold; they can only get at us through the door, and we can lock that.”