“well, for goodness’ sake!” said miss peavey.
shropshire had become static once more. she stared at him, wide-eyed.
“can you tie it!” said miss peavey.
she ran her gaze over him once again from head to foot.
“well, if this ain’t the cat’s whiskers!” said miss peavey. and with this final pronouncement she rose from her bank, somewhat restored, and addressed herself to the task of picking up old threads.
“wherever,” she inquired, “did you spring from, ed?”
there was nothing but affection in her voice. her gaze was that of a mother contemplating her long-lost[p. 182] child. the past was past and a new era had begun. in the past she had been compelled to describe this man as a hunk of cheese and to express the opinion that his crookedness was such as to enable him to hide at will behind a spiral staircase; but now, in the joy of this unexpected reunion, all these harsh views were forgotten. this was eddie cootes, her old side-kick, come back to her after many days, and only now was it borne in upon her what a gap in her life his going had made. she flung herself into his arms with a glad cry.
mr. cootes, who had not been expecting this demonstration of esteem, staggered a trifle at the impact, but recovered himself sufficiently to return the embrace with something of his ancient warmth. he was delighted at this cordiality, but also surprised. the memory of the lady’s parting words on the occasion of their last meeting was still green, and he had not realised how quickly women forget and forgive, and how a sensitive girl, stirred by some fancied injury, may address a man as a pie-faced plugugly and yet retain in her inmost heart all the old love and affection. he kissed miss peavey fondly.
“liz,” he said with fervour, “you’re prettier than ever.”
“now you behave,” responded miss peavey coyly.
the arrival of a baaing flock of sheep, escorted by a priggish dog and followed by a couple of the local peasantry, caused an intermission in these tender exchanges; and by the time the procession had moved off down the road they were in a more suitable frame of mind to converse quietly and in a practical spirit, to compare notes, and to fill up the blanks.
“wherever,” inquired miss peavey again, “did you spring from, ed? you could of knocked me down with a feather when i saw you coming along the road.[p. 183] i couldn’t have believed it was you, this far from the ocean. what are you doing inland like this? taking a vacation, or aren’t you working the boats any more?”
“no, liz,” said mr. cootes sadly. “i’ve had to give that up.”
and he exhibited the hiatus where an important section of his finger had been and told his painful tale. his companion’s sympathy was balm to his wounded soul.
“the risks of the profession, of course,” said mr. cootes moodily, removing the exhibit in order to place his arm about her slender waist. “still, it’s done me in. i tried once or twice, but i couldn’t seem to make the cards behave no more, so i quit. ah, liz,” said mr. cootes with feeling, “you can take it from me that i’ve had no luck since you left me. regular hoodoo there’s been on me. if i’d walked under a ladder on a friday to smash a mirror over the dome of a black cat i couldn’t have had it tougher.”
“you poor boy!”
mr. cootes nodded sombrely.
“tough,” he agreed, “but there it is. only this afternoon my jinx gummed the game for me and threw a spanner into the prettiest little scenario you ever thought of . . . but let’s not talk about my troubles. what are you doing now, liz?”
“me? oh, i’m living near here.”
mr. cootes started.
“not married?” he exclaimed in alarm.
“no!” cried miss peavey with vehemence, and shot a tender glance up at his face. “and i guess you know why, ed.”
“you don’t mean . . . you hadn’t forgotten me?”
“as if i could ever forget you, eddie! there’s only one tintype on my mantelpiece.”
[p. 184]“but it struck me . . . it sort of occurred to me as a passing thought that, when we saw each other last, you were a mite peeved with your eddie . . .”
it was the first allusion either of them had made to the past unpleasantness, and it caused a faint blush to dye miss peavey’s soft cheek.
“oh, shucks!” she said. “i’d forgotten all about that next day. i was good and mad at the time, i’ll allow, but if only you’d called me up next morning, ed . . .”
there was a silence, as they mused on what might have been.
“what are you doing, living here?” asked mr. cootes after a pregnant pause. “have you retired?”
“no, sir. i’m sitting in at a game with real worthwhile stakes. but, darn it,” said miss peavey regretfully, “i’m wondering if it isn’t too big for me to put through alone. oh, eddie, if only there was some way you and me could work it together like in the old days.”
“what is it?”
“diamonds, eddie. a necklace. i’ve only had one look at it so far, but that was enough. some of the best ice i’ve saw in years, ed. worth every cent of a hundred thousand berries.”
the coincidence drew from mr. cootes a sharp exclamation.
“a necklace!”
“listen, ed, while i slip you the low-down. and, say, if you knew the relief it was to me talking good united states again! like taking off a pair of tight shoes. i’m doing the high-toned stuff for the moment. soulful. you remember, like i used to pull once or twice in the old days. just after you and me had that little spat of ours i thought i’d take another trip in the old atlantic—force of habit or something, i guess.[p. 185] anyway, i sailed, and we weren’t two days out from new york when i made the biggest kind of a hit with the dame this necklace belongs to. seemed to take a shine to me right away . . .”
“i don’t blame her!” murmured mr. cootes devotedly.
“now don’t you interrupt,” said miss peavey, administering a gratified slap. “where was i? oh yes. this here now lady constance keeble i’m telling you about . . .”
“what!”
“what’s the matter now?”
“lady constance keeble?”
“that’s the name. she’s lord emsworth’s sister, who lives at a big place up the road. blandings castle it’s called. she didn’t seem like she was able to let me out of her sight, and i’ve been with her off and on ever since we landed. i’m visiting at the castle now.”
a deep sigh, like the groan of some great spirit in travail, forced itself from between mr. cootes’s lips.
“well, wouldn’t that jar you!” he demanded of circumambient space. “of all the lucky ones! getting into the place like that, with the band playing and a red carpet laid down for you to walk on! gee, if you fell down a well, liz, you’d come up with the bucket. you’re a human horseshoe, that’s what you are. say, listen. lemme-tell-ya-sumf’n. do you know what i’ve been doing this afternoon? only trying to edge into the dam’ place myself and getting the air two minutes after i was past the front door.”
“what! you, ed?”
“sure. you’re not the only one that’s heard of that collection of ice.”
“oh, ed!” bitter disappointment rang in miss peavey’s voice. “if only you could have worked it![p. 186] me and you partners again! it hurts to think of it. what was the stuff you pulled to get you in?”
mr. cootes so far forgot himself in his agony of spirit as to expectorate disgustedly at a passing frog. and even in this trivial enterprise failure dogged him. he missed the frog, which withdrew into the grass with a cold look of disapproval.
“me?” said mr. cootes. “i thought i’d got it smooth. i’d chummed up with a fellow who had been invited down to the place and had thought it over and decided not to go, so i said to myself what’s the matter with going there instead of him. a gink called mctodd this was, a poet, and none of the folks had ever set eyes on him, except the old man, who’s too short-sighted to see anyone, so . . .”
miss peavey interrupted.
“you don’t mean to tell me, ed cootes, that you thought you could get into the castle by pretending to be ralston mctodd?”
“sure i did. why not? it didn’t seem like there was anything to it. a cinch, that’s what it looked like. and the first guy i meet in the joint is a mutt who knows this mctodd well. we had a couple of words, and i beat it. i know when i’m not wanted.”
“but, ed! ed! what do you mean? ralston mctodd is at the castle now, this very moment.”
“how’s that?”
“sure. been there coupla days and more. long, thin bird with an eyeglass.”
mr. cootes’s mind was in a whirl. he could make nothing of this matter.
“nothing like it! mctodd’s not so darned tall or so thin, if it comes to that. and he didn’t wear no eyeglass all the time i was with him. this . . .” he broke off sharply. “my gosh! i wonder!” he cried.[p. 187] “liz! how many men are there in the joint right now?”
“only four besides lord emsworth. there’s a big party coming down for the county ball, but that’s all there is at present. there’s lord emsworth’s son, freddie . . .”
“what does he look like?”
“sort of a dude with blond hair slicked back. then there’s mr. keeble. he’s short with a red face.”
“and?”
“and baxter. he’s lord emsworth’s secretary. wears spectacles.”
“and that’s the lot?”
“that’s all there is, not counting this here mctodd and the help.”
mr. cootes brought his hand down with a resounding report on his leg. the mildly pleasant look which had been a feature of his appearance during his interview with psmith had vanished now, its place taken by one of an extremely sinister malevolence.
“and i let him shoo me out as if i was a stray pup!” he muttered through clenched teeth. “of all the bunk games!”
“what are you talking about, ed?”
“and i thanked him! thanked him!” moaned edward cootes, writhing at the memory. “i thanked him for letting me go!”
“eddie cootes, whatever are you . . . ?”
“listen, liz.” mr. cootes mastered his emotion with a strong effort. “i blew into that joint and met this fellow with the eyeglass, and he told me he knew mctodd well and that i wasn’t him. and, from what you tell me, this must be the very guy that’s passing himself off as mctodd! don’t you see? this baby must have started working on the same lines i did.[p. 188] got to know mctodd, found he wasn’t coming to the castle, and came down instead of him, same as me. only he got there first, damn him! wouldn’t that give you a pain in the neck!”
amazement held miss peavey dumb for an instant. then she spoke.
“the big stiff!” said miss peavey.
mr. cootes, regardless of a lady’s presence, went even further in his censure.
“i had a feeling from the first that there was something not on the level about that guy!” said miss peavey. “gee! he must be after that necklace too.”
“sure he’s after the necklace,” said mr. cootes impatiently. “what did you think he’d come down for? a change of air?”
“but, ed! say! are you going to let him get away with it?”
“am i going to let him get away with it!” said mr. cootes, annoyed by the foolish question. “wake me up in the night and ask me!”
“but what are you going to do?”
“do!” said mr. cootes. “do! i’ll tell you what i’m going to . . .” he paused, and the stern resolve that shone in his face seemed to flicker. “say, what the hell am i going to do?” he went on somewhat weakly.
“you won’t get anything by putting the folks wise that he’s a fake. that would be the finish of him, but it wouldn’t get you anywhere.”
“no,” said mr. cootes.
“wait a minute while i think,” said miss peavey.
there was a pause. miss peavey sat with knit brows.
“how would it be . . . ?” ventured mr. cootes.
“cheese it!” said miss peavey.
[p. 189]mr. cootes cheesed it. the minutes ticked on.
“i’ve got it,” said miss peavey. “this guy’s ace-high with lady constance. you’ve got to get him alone right away and tell him he’s got to get you invited to the place as a friend of his.”
“i knew you’d think of something, liz,” said mr. cootes, almost humbly. “you always were a wonder like that. how am i to get him alone?”
“i can fix that. i’ll ask him to come for a stroll with me. he’s not what you’d call crazy about me, but he can’t very well duck if i keep after him. we’ll go down the drive. you’ll be in the bushes—i’ll show you the place. then i’ll send him to fetch me a wrap or something, and while i walk on he’ll come back past where you’re hiding, and you jump out at him.”
“liz,” said mr. cootes, lost in admiration, “when it comes to doping out a scheme, you’re the snake’s eyebrows!”
“but what are you going to do if he just turns you down?”
mr. cootes uttered a bleak laugh, and from the recesses of his costume produced a neat little revolver.
“he won’t turn me down!” he said.
