Loving - Henry Green [59]
probably induced Charley to close the door soft after him and it was not until he had reached his quarters, when he was out of earshot, that he began to yell for Bert. So nobody saw this car drive up but Edith. She noted in it not the lady above referred to but a stranger, a man, a grey homburg hat. His boy came running in a green baize apron. At that moment the bell rang. The front door,' Raunce said as the indicator chocked, 'I'm wrongly dressed. Put 'er in the Red Library an' don't leave till I come or something might go missing. Not like that,' he almost shouted as Albert made off tied in green, 'let's 'ave that down,' he cried as he twitched at the bow it was knotted with, 'an' where's your jacket?' Raunce got the lad away at last discreetly clad, calling out to him, 'I won't be a minute while I dress.' So it was Albert received Michael Mathewson at the entrance, who took this man's business card when he asked for Mrs Tennant. The lad held it upsidedown. In consequence he could not read the name or the line in Irish below, underneath which came a translation between brackets which went, 'Irish Regina Assurance.' There was finally a Dublin address in the right-hand corner. 'This way please,' Albert said the way he had been taught. He led the man over the chequered marble floor. Mike Mathewson followed fat and short and bald with blue spats. 'That's to say they're not here,' the boy piped over his shoulder. 'It'th O. K. thon,' Mike lisped. So it was Albert showed him in where Edith was still on her knees after a proposal of marriage, as if tidying. As Mathewson passed Albert probably remembered twice for he sang out again. 'This way please.' 'Thankth thon,' the man replied. Edith turned away from them and began a fit of giggling. 'Nithe plathe you've got,' he remarked bright in her direction. Albert closed the door gently, stood so it seemed unobserved and ill at ease. He licked a palm of his hand then smarmed his yellow hair. 'The familieth away?' Mr Mathewson enquired picking up the paper-knife with the agate handle. 'Yes sir,' Edith made answer. She looked for a' second time full at him seriously with her raving beauty. 'That'th all right girlie,' he brought out and goggled a trifle. Then he put that paper-knife down. He came near. 'I'll do thomething for you,' he announced soft, 'I'll put you in the. way to make a fool out of Mike. That'th me. There'th my bithneth card he holdth. It'th thith way. We'll maybe have a little bet on thith. I'll wager thixpenth you can never gueth my bithneth.' On this she rose to her feet, back to the fire. Her eyes were large as she smoothed her dress. He turned round as though to give her time. 'You're in on thith thon,' he called urgent, soft, but the lad made no move. 'It's Mr Raunce you want,' she interrupted. 'That'th all right,' he answered, 'I'm not thelling anything. I gave up thelling when trade got thlack. I'm an enquiry agent,' he brought out sharp, turning to her close. 'What?' she muttered and began to blush. 'Yeth that'th a thurprithe ain't it,' he went on seemingly delighted. 'Now you'd never have guethed ith'nt that right without you'd theen my bithneth card. Mike Mathewthonth the name. Jutht had a tooth out that'th why I thpeak like thith,' he excused then laid a hand genteel across his mouth. He took it away at once to finger the spotted tie. He was now very near indeed. He smelled of acid of violets. 'I come down when they claim a loss,' he brought out sharp, not lisping. 'Oh,' she said faint. 'I reprethent the Inthuranth Company,' he explained again. At this precise moment out by the dovecote little Albert was with Mrs Jack's little girls. He knelt down while Miss Evelyn and Miss Moira stood dappled by leaf sunshine. The lad himself was shaded by that pierced tower of Pisa inside which a hundred ruby eyes were round. 'You're not ever goin' to bury it Bert?' Miss Evelyn enquired. 'Naw,' he replied picking up half an empty eggshell. The sisters squatted. Opening his fist he displayed the ring, a small blaze of blue. He scooped it into that eggshell which he then placed