Something New P. G. Wodehouse (best classic books .txt) đ
- Author: P. G. Wodehouse
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âWhy, is he such a pal of yours as all that?â
âItâs not that. Itâsâ âthe fact is, Dickie, old top, Iâm in exactly the same bally hole as poor old Percy was, myself!â
âWhat! You have been sued for breach of promise?â
âNot absolutely thatâ âyet. Look here; Iâll tell you the whole thing. Do you remember a show at the Piccadilly about a year ago called The Baby Doll? There was a girl in the chorus.â
âSeveralâ âI remember noticing.â
âNo; I mean one particular girlâ âa girl called Joan Valentine. The rotten part is that I never met her.â
âPull yourself together, Freddie. What exactly is the trouble?â
âWellâ âdonât you see?â âI used to go to the show every other night, and I fell frightfully in love with this girlâ ââ
âWithout having met her?â
âYes. You see, I was rather an ass in those days.â
âNo, no!â said R. Jones handsomely.
âI must have been or I shouldnât have been such an ass, donât you know! Well, as I was saying, I used to write this girl letters, saying how much I was in love with her; andâ âandâ ââ
âSpecifically proposing marriage?â
âI canât remember. I expect I did. I was awfully in love.â
âHow was that if you never met her?â
âShe wouldnât meet me. She wouldnât even come out to luncheon. She didnât even answer my lettersâ âjust sent word down by the Johnny at the stage door. And thenâ ââ
Freddieâs voice died away. He thrust the knob of his cane into his mouth in a sort of frenzy.
âWhat then?â inquired R. Jones.
A scarlet blush manifested itself on Freddieâs young face. His eyes wandered sidewise. After a long pause a single word escaped him, almost inaudible:
âPoetry!â
R. Jones trembled as though an electric current had been passed through his plump frame. His little eyes sparkled with merriment.
âYou wrote her poetry!â
âYards of it, old boyâ âyards of it!â groaned Freddie. Panic filled him with speech. âYou see the frightful hole Iâm in? This girl is bound to have kept the letters. I donât remember whether I actually proposed to her or not; but anyway sheâs got enough material to make it worth while to have a dash at an actionâ âespecially after poor old Percy has just got soaked for such a pile of money and made breach-of-promise cases the fashion, so to speak.
âAnd now that the announcement of my engagement is out sheâs certain to get busy. Probably she has been waiting for something of the sort. Donât you see that all the cards are in her hands? We couldnât afford to let the thing come into court. That poetry would dish my marriage for a certainty. Iâd have to emigrate or something! Goodness knows what would happen at home! My old govânor would murder me! So you see what a frightful hole Iâm in, donât you, Dickie, old man?â
âAnd what do you want me to do?â
âWhy, to get hold of this girl and get back the lettersâ âdonât you see? I canât do it myself, cooped up miles away in the country. And besides, I shouldnât know how to handle a thing like that. It needs a chappie with a lot of sense and a persuasive sort of way with him.â
âThanks for the compliment, Freddie; but I should imagine that something a little more solid than a persuasive way would be required in a case like this. You said something a while ago about five hundred pounds?â
âHere it is, old manâ âin notes. I brought it on purpose. Will you really take the thing on? Do you think you can work it for five hundred?â
âI can have a try.â
Freddie rose, with an expression approximating to happiness on his face. Some men have the power of inspiring confidence in some of their fellows, though they fill others with distrust. Scotland Yard might look askance at R. Jones, but to Freddie he was all that was helpful and reliable. He shook R. Jonesâ hand several times in his emotion.
âThatâs absolutely topping of you, old man!â he said. âThen Iâll leave the whole thing to you. Write me the moment you have done anything, wonât you? Goodbye, old top, and thanks ever so much!â
The door closed. R. Jones remained where he sat, his fingers straying luxuriously among the crackling paper. A feeling of complete happiness warmed R. Jonesâ bosom. He was uncertain whether or not his mission would be successful; and to be truthful he was not letting that worry him much. What he was certain of was the fact that the heavens had opened unexpectedly and dropped five hundred pounds into his lap.
IIIThe Earl of Emsworth stood in the doorway of the Senior Conservative Clubâs vast dining-room, and beamed with a vague sweetness on the two hundred or so Senior Conservatives who, with much clattering of knives and forks, were keeping body and soul together by means of the coffee-room luncheon. He might have been posing for a statue of amiability. His pale blue eyes shone with a friendly light through their protecting glasses; the smile of a man at peace with all men curved his weak mouth; his bald head, reflecting the sunlight, seemed almost to wear a halo.
Nobody appeared to notice him. He so seldom came to London these days that he was practically a stranger in the club; and in any case your Senior Conservative, when at lunch, has little leisure for observing anything not immediately on the table in front of him. To attract attention in the dining-room of the Senior Conservative Club between the hours of one and two-thirty, you have to be a mutton chopâ ânot an earl.
It is possible that, lacking the initiative to make his way down the long aisle and find a table for himself, he might have stood there indefinitely, but for the restless activity of Adams, the head steward. It was Adamsâ mission in life to flit to and fro, hauling would-be lunchers to their destinations, as a St. Bernard dog hauls travelers
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