Part 4 (1/2)
”Christopher Selby!” said Lady Underhill reflectively. ”Yes! I have often heard your father speak of him. He was the man who gave your father an I.O.U. to pay a card debt, and redeemed it with a cheque which was returned by the bank!”
”What!”
”Didn't you hear what I said? I will repeat it, if you wish.”
”There must have been some mistake.”
”Only the one your father made when he trusted the man.”
”It must have been some other fellow.”
”Of course!” said Lady Underhill satirically. ”No doubt your father knew hundreds of Christopher Selbys!”
Derek bit his lip.
”Well, after all,” he said doggedly, ”whether it's true or not....”
”I see no reason why your father should not have spoken the truth.”
”All right. We'll say it _is_ true, then. But what does it matter? I am marrying Jill, not her uncle.”
”Nevertheless, it would be pleasanter if her only living relative were not a swindler!... Tell me, where and how did you meet this girl?”
”I should be glad if you would not refer to her as 'this girl.' The name, if you have forgotten it, is Mariner.”
”Well, where did you meet Miss Mariner?”
”At Prince's. Just after you left for Mentone. Freddie Rooke introduced me.”
”Oh, your intellectual friend Mr. Rooke knows her?”
”They were children together. Her people lived next to the Rookes in Worcesters.h.i.+re.”
”I thought you said she was an American.”
”I said her father was. He settled in England. Jill hasn't been in America since she was eight or nine.”
”The fact,” said Lady Underhill, ”that the girl is a friend of Mr.
Rooke is no great recommendation.”
Derek kicked angrily at a box of matches which someone had thrown down on the platform.
”I wonder if you could possibly get it into your head, mother, that I want to marry Jill, not engage her as an under-housemaid. I don't consider that she requires recommendations, as you call them. However, don't you think the most sensible thing is for you to wait till you meet her at dinner to-night, and then you can form your own opinion?
I'm beginning to get a little bored by this futile discussion.”
”As you seem quite unable to talk on the subject of this girl without becoming rude,” said Lady Underhill, ”I agree with you. Let us hope that my first impression will be a favourable one. Experience has taught me that first impressions are everything.”
”I'm glad you think so,” said Derek, ”for I fell in love with Jill the very first moment I saw her!”