A Double Knot Part 24

"Then I wanted time to get these things in proper course. Well, come now, I did get you the invitation to Lady Littletown's."

"Yes; to a beggarly dinner with an old woman at Hampton. Are you going to dine there?"

"I? No! I come in afterwards at the 'at home'."

"Ah! I wanted to talk to you about that affair to-night. You promised without my consent."

"Of course I did. It was a great chance."

"A great chance?"

"Of course. You don't know how big a thing it is to be."

"Bah! stuff! rubbis.h.!.+ A feed given to all the old pensioned tabbies at Hampton Court."

"Don't you make any mistake, sir. There'll be some big people there."

"Big! Why, I could buy up dozens of them."

"Their incomes, perhaps, Mr Elbraham, but not their position and their _entree_ to good society. Sir, you could not even buy mine."

"But I could your bills," said the other, with a grin.

"And hold them over me, you wretched little cad!" said the young man to himself. Then aloud:

"I can a.s.sure you, Mr Elbraham, that this dinner will give you the step you wanted. Lady Littletown stands very high in society. The d.u.c.h.ess of Redesby will be there, and Lord Henry Moorpark."

"What! old Apricot--old yellow and ripe!" said Elbraham with a chuckle.

"Lord Henry Moorpark is a thorough specimen of an English n.o.bleman, Mr Elbraham," said the secretary stiffly; "and I consider that if the only thing I had done was to gain you an introduction to him, I should have earned all the wages, as you call them, that you have condescended to pay me."

"Yes, of course--yes, to be sure. There, there, don't be so hot and peppery, Litton. I'm a bit put out this morning. By the way, would you have the brougham and pair or one horse?"

"Pair, decidedly," said the young man.

"You'll not go with me?"

"No; I come afterwards. You shall bring me back if you will."

"Yes; of course. I'll put some cigars in the pocket. Would you wear the diamond studs?"

"_No_. Not a ring, even. Go in black, and hardly speak a word. Do nothing but look the millionaire. The simpler you dress, my dear sir, the richer they will think you."

"My dear Litton, you're a treasure--damme, that you are, sir! I say, look here: you don't happen to want five, or ten, or twenty this morning, do you?"

Mr Arthur Litton did happen to want twenty, not five or ten; and a couple of crisp notes were thrust into his hand.

"Well, I suppose it's all right, Litton. I shall look out for you there, then; but it's a deuce of a way to go."

"It's worth going to, if it were double the distance, I can a.s.sure you.

You have money; you want position."

"All right, then; that's settled. I'm going to the City now. Are you going in?"

"No, thanks; I shall sit down and do a little writing."

"Very good; you'll find the cigars on the shelf."

"What, those cigars?" He spoke with a slight emphasis on the "those."

"No, thanks; they have too strong a flavour of a hundred-pound bill."

"What do you mean?"

"Forty pounds in cash, forty in old pale East India sherry, and twenty in weeds."

"You're an artful one, you are, Litton--'pon my soul you are. Deuced artful," said Mr Elbraham, with a curious puckering about the corners of his eyes, intended to do duty for a smile. "But that reminds me, Huish's bill falls due to-morrow--hundred pounds; mustn't forget that.

Here, pull out your case."

He unlocked a little cabinet with a tiny key, and opened two or three drawers full of cigars, each with a paper band round its middle.

"Which is it to be?"

The young man smiled, and filled his case, selecting one as well for present smoking. The cabinet was reclosed; there was an interchange of nods; Elbraham went off to the station; Litton sat down and wrote a letter, after which he made a little study of a time-table, hurried off, and, catching a train, was soon after on his way to Hampton, where he was just in time to catch Lady Littletown entering her carriage for a drive.

"Ah, _mon cher_ Arthur!" she exclaimed; "you nearly missed me. There, come in, and I'll take you part of your way back."

Litton mounted beside her ladys.h.i.+p, and took his seat as invited.

"Drive slowly," cried her ladys.h.i.+p; and as the handsome barouche, with its well-appointed pair of bays, went gaily along the pleasant riverside road towards the Palace, Lady Littletown turned her sharp dark eyes searchingly upon her companion.

She was one of those elderly ladies upon whom the effect of time seems to be that of making them sharper and possessed of a keener interest in worldly matters, and one in whose aquiline features there was ample promise of her proving to be a most implacable enemy if offended. Too cautious to allow her heart to be stirred by instincts of an amatory nature, she had found consolation in looking after the matrimonial business of others; and hence her interest in her companion of the hour.

"Well?" she said sharply; "what news?"

"I've fixed him for certain. He would have backed out, but for a bit of a chat this morning."

"Then the nasty, scaly, slippery gold-fish will really come?"

"Yes."

"Not disappoint me as he did Judy Millet?"

"You may depend upon him this time."

"Good boy, good boy. Now, look here, Arthur: you are behaving very well over this, and if the affair comes off as I wish, and you behave very nicely, I'll see next what I can do by way of finding you a wife with a snug fortune; only you must not be too particular about her looks."

"I leave myself in your ladys.h.i.+p's hands."

"There, now you may get down. I'm going to make two or three calls in the Palace."