Part 12 (2/2)

Harry Rames glanced quickly at his companion.

”Is that so?” he asked eagerly. Then his face fell. ”But I am not even a friend of his.”

”I do not think that matters,” said the surgeon. ”He likes to pose as Providence, and the posture will be more dramatic if it is a.s.sumed toward an acquaintance rather than a friend.”

”He is a sham, then,” said Rames bluntly.

”By no means,” Sir James replied suavely. ”Let us say, rather, that he is an artist.”

Captain Rames turned with a furrowed brow to his companion.

”I am no great hand at subtleties,” he said. ”Will you tell me what you know of Mr. Benoliel? I am a beginner in the world, and he may be of importance to me.”

Sir James Burrell smiled. He was in his element. To supply a character much as some author of the seventeenth century might have done, was a foible which continually tempted him. He was not always successful.

Paradox allured him into difficulties, cheap epigrams at times blazed before him, and would not be quiet until he had uttered them. But often he managed to hit off, with some happiness, at all events, the externals of the person whom he described. He drank his wine now slowly and set down his gla.s.s. Then, twisting the delicate stem with the finger-tips of his large and handsome hand, he began:

”He is a Jew, of course, and an Oriental. But from what quarter of the Orient, who shall say? You may give him any birthplace, from the Levant to Casa Blanca, and no one will contradict you. Some hold him to be a charlatan, as you are inclined to do. But he is an accepted personage, not blown into notice and out of it by the favor of a season, but a permanency. How he became so, I cannot tell you. He is very busy all day, although when the darkness comes it would be difficult to point to any one thing which he has done. He is always at the top table at public dinners, and very near to the chairman. But he never proposes a toast or responds to one. If he writes a letter to the _Times_, it appears in leaded type. If you want secret information on any subject, he can get it for you. If you want help, he will find the man who can give it. He is a power in the city. He is a power in politics, and the motor-cars of prime-ministers stand at his door at ten o'clock in the morning. Yet he was never in the House, and has never made a speech on any platform. It is believed by many that he might achieve greatness if he chose. But he never chooses. He has the air at a discussion of being able to say the last word on any subject, but he does not say it. He seems, indeed, to stand high in the world on a pedestal which has no legs to it. That is how I describe him. For the rest, he is rich, and I have never heard him utter an opinion which was not derived from others or altogether ba.n.a.l. But, listen! He is going to speak to us.”

”However, I can recommend the old brandy,” was all that Mr. Benoliel had at that moment to say.

”There, what did I tell you!” said Sir James, triumphant at the success of his diagnosis.

”Well, if his talk is ba.n.a.l his brandy isn't, G.o.d bless him,” said Captain Rames. ”But I interrupted you.”

”He has been guilty of one weakness,” Sir James resumed. ”He married into an old family of great poverty and the marriage lasted for six months. His wife lives handsomely in Eton Square--But I see that I am going to lose you, for our host is beckoning to you.”

Captain Rames obeyed the summons with alacrity and walked round the table.

”I see that you are going on to Buckingham Palace,” said Mr. Benoliel.

”So I thought that I would interrupt your conversation with Sir James Burrell. For I want to introduce you to Mr. Smale.”

Mr. Smale held out his hand. At a sign from Benoliel, the butler brought up a chair and placed it between Smale and his host.

”Sit down,” said Benoliel, and Captain Rames obeyed.

”Benoliel tells me,” said Smale, ”that you are thinking of Parliament.”

Captain Rames was startled. He could not remember that in his one brief conversation with his host he had even mentioned his ambition.

”I inferred it from a casual word or two you let drop,” said Benoliel with a smile.

”Well, it's true,” said Rames. ”I should like to stand on your side very much, Mr. Smale, if I could find a seat to contest.”

Henry Smale nodded.

”That, no doubt, could be arranged. You would be a strong candidate.

You bring a reputation and some breath of romance to favor you.

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