Part 37 (1/2)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
_THE CABINET MEETING_
A fast destroyer is a wet and uncomfortable craft but Anthony Trent had never enjoyed a voyage so much. Life in Castle Radna had been a greater strain than he knew. He felt the need for relaxation. The trout stream called him, the golf links tempted him. He felt very much as he had done years before at Dartmouth when the rigors of the training period were finished with. He was safe. He was free; and he was speeding northward ho with the paper in his pocket which had seemed impossible of attainment.
”I dare not run into Portsmouth,” Maitland confided in him, ”as I'd have to report to the Admiral commanding and this news of yours is not for his ears yet.”
”Can't you get nearer London than Portsmouth?” Trent asked.
”We're headed for Sheerness at the mouth of the Thames. I can lie quietly off Canvey Island and then train it to town. Later on when my irregular proceedings are dilated upon I can get the First Lord of the Admiralty to back me up. By the way,” he said later, ”Do you know the Grenvils well?”
”Very well,” Anthony Trent answered, ”Why?”
”Then you probably know Rudolph Castoon. One of my sisters who knows Lady Daphne says an engagement is rumoured between them.”
”Nothing to it,” Anthony Trent said confidently. ”She doesn't even like him as a friend. Does your sister know her well?”
”Next door neighbours in Cornwall,” Maitland answered. ”She married Lord Polruan.”
So it was Maitland's sister who had dubbed him an American adventurer and indirectly warned the earl against the danger of having him on such intimate terms! And this una.s.suming young naval officer was of course a son of an earl, and would rightly be described as the Honourable Willoughby Maitland. Anthony Trent smiled. He could not help thinking how gratified his old housekeeper in Kennebago would be to think he moved in such company.
The two men reached Liverpool Street station at ten o'clock at night and taxied westward to Lord Rosecarrel's town house in Grosvenor Place.
The butler, that stern functionary who disapproved of democracy and the ambitions of the new rich, beamed a welcome when he beheld Anthony Trent. In a sense he felt the young American was one of the family. His greeting to Trent's friend as the son of an earl was respectful, but to Anthony he vouchsafed especial courtesy. It was very grateful to the wanderer. It was like coming home to a man who has no abiding place.
”His Lords.h.i.+p is attending a cabinet meeting,” he said. ”Her Ladys.h.i.+p is at an Albert Hall concert and Mr. Arthur is out of town.”
It was plain from his manner that he expected Anthony Trent to make his quarters in the Rosecarrel town house.
”I must see his lords.h.i.+p instantly,” Trent said. ”Tell one of your men to whistle for a taxi.”
”You seem to be very popular with old Barlow,” Maitland said.
”I have spent the happiest hours of my life at Rosecarrel Castle,”
Anthony Trent said, Maitland thought with some little reserve.
At Downing Street the prime minister's butler could not conceive of such a thing as an interrupted cabinet meeting.
”It is business of state,” Anthony Trent said loftily. ”If you feel you have a right to dictate terms very well. But,” he continued impressively, ”I will promise you one thing. From tomorrow on, you will b.u.t.tle for someone else.”
It happened that the cabinet meeting, which had to do with domestic finance, was already ended.
The prime minister glanced at the card sent in, and turned to the private secretary of the Earl of Rosecarrel who had just entered the room.
”That splendid young man Willoughby Maitland who did so well at Zeebrugge is demanding an audience. I am rather tired. Do you mind seeing if it is of importance?”
”Certainly not, sir,” said Colonel Langley.
He stopped short when he saw who accompanied the naval officer, and learned that it was Anthony Trent who had business with the premier.