The Girl in Blue (25 page)

‘You
going to London, Scrope?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can
you give me a lift?’

‘I
suppose so,’ said Willoughby, still grumpy. ‘Why do you want to go to London?’

It
would have been possible for Homer to say that he had had a cable from America
which made his immediate presence in the metropolis imperative, but he decided
that the truth from one man of the world to another man of the world would
carry more weight.

‘There’s
a woman here I want to avoid,’ he said.

He
could not have framed a sentence more calculated to win Willoughby’s sympathy.
That sturdy bachelor never turned a deaf ear to appeals from men desirous of
avoiding women. He had been doing it himself for years and considered it the
foundation stone on which the good life should be based.

‘Jump
in,’ he said, and Homer jumped in.

Tell me
all about it,’ he said, and Homer told him all about it.

‘If I
were you,’ said Willoughby, the narrative concluded, ‘I’d take the next plane
back to New York. Never mind about your luggage. Leave it behind,’ said
Willoughby, and Homer said that the same idea had occurred to him.

2

Jerry was pacing to and
fro near the gate. He was feeling shaken, but happy to have placed his
relations with Vera Upshaw on a satisfactory basis. It had not been easy to
detach her from his person and explain to her without being abrupt that his
affections were engaged elsewhere and that her suggestion that everything
between them should be just as it was before, Gerald dear, was not to be
considered for an instant, but he had managed it. The thought of Jane had lent
him eloquence, and even without telling her that he would greatly prefer to be
dead in a ditch than married to her he had been able to make himself clear.

She had
not been pleased, but dudgeon in the circumstances was only to be expected, and
a little dudgeon, he told himself, never did anyone any harm. The thing to fix
the mind on was that she had left him and he was alone again, free to meditate
on Jane, undisturbed.

So
intently was he doing this that it was only when a motor horn tooted
immediately behind him, causing him to skip like the high hills, that he became
aware that she had returned from her trip to London. She was looking radiant at
the wheel of the car with which the bounty of Scrope, Ashby and Pemberton had
provided her, and he thought, as he had so often thought before, that there was
something about her that made all other girls of his acquaintance seem like
battered repaints. He hastened to the window and poked his head in.

Their
conversation-opened on perhaps a pedestrian note.

‘Hullo,’
he said.

‘Hi,’
she replied.

‘So you’re
back.’

‘Yes, I’m
back!’

‘Did
you have a nice drive?’

‘Terrific.’

‘Tired?’

‘Not a
bit.’

‘Did
you see the lawyer?’

‘Yes, I
saw him. His name’s Stoganbuhler.’

‘Well,
sooner him than me.’

There
was a momentary silence. Then Jane said:

‘Will I
what?’ and when Jerry asked her to clarify the question, she said, ‘Certainly.’

‘When I
left, we were talking of this and that and you said “Jane, will you?”, and
before you could proceed further Chippendale came butting in. So now, devoured
by curiosity, I ask Will I what?’

‘Marry
me. Be my wife. Team up.’

‘Oh,
was that it? Need you ask?’

‘I
thought I’d better. Will you, Jane?’

‘Of
course I will. I can hardly wait. So now what you do is climb in and kiss me,
don’t you think?’

‘It was
just what I was planning to do.’

‘But I
wish you weren’t going to do it with your face all over lipstick.’

‘Is it?’

‘Smothered.’

‘I had
better explain.’

‘I
think so. If you can.’

‘That
was a girl I used to be engaged to. She broke it off, and wanted it to be on
again. She made a sudden dive for me. I ought to have uppercut her as she bored
in, but I missed my chance. However, everything is all right. I told her I was
engaged to you.’

‘But
you weren’t.’

‘I may
have anticipated a little, but I am now, aren’t I?’

‘You certainly
are.

‘Gosh,
how happy we’re going to be.’

‘There
won’t be any more of your ex-fiancées dropping in and kissing you?’

‘No,
that’s the lot.’

‘Good.
One likes to know.’

It was
some time later that Jane, when able to speak, said ‘Jerry’, and Jerry, who had
been murmuring incoherently, said ‘Yes?’

‘There’s
one little thing I ought to tell you.’

‘I know
it.’

‘About
my money?’

‘Yes.
Uncle Bill turned up just now with the story.’

‘And
don’t you mind?’

‘Not if
you don’t.’

‘I’m
delighted. When Stoganbuhler broke the news, I felt like laughing my head off.
It would only have come between us.’

‘Nothing
could ever come between us.’

‘What’s
money?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Dross,
wouldn’t you call it?’

‘Just
the word.’

‘Who
wants money if they’ve got G. G. F. West? Though I’m afraid we shall be awfully
hard up. I’ve got to give your uncle all he lent me for this car and my other
extravagances. I’ve been spending a fortune. Like a drunken sailor, as he said.
You won’t mind love in a cottage, will you, or in a small flat somewhere?’

‘We can
do better than that. Uncle Bill has terminated the trust, and I’m loaded. Loaded
enough, anyway. Any time you want a little dross, ask me.’

‘Jerry!
How wonderful.’

‘Not
too bad, I agree.’

‘Oh,
Jerry!’ said Jane.

‘Oh,
Jane!’ said Jerry.

Odd, he
reflected, how things turn out. If some unknown sadist had not selected him for
jury duty, chuckling at the thought of how it was going to disorganize his
working day, he would never have known that Jane existed. Giving credit where
credit was due, he saw in the miracle of their meeting one more proof of his
guardian angel’s efficiency. When that magician undertook a job, he certainly
gave service.

In the
intervals of kissing Jane he pondered on his guardian angel. For some reason he
pictured him as smallish with one of those rather sharp faces. Horn-rimmed
spectacles? Yes, probably horn-rimmed spectacles and a nervous bustling manner,
the sort of fellow who would have made a good confidential secretary to a big
financier.

What
had he done to deserve such a helper? Not much, that he could see. Still, there
it was, and he could at least be grateful.

3

Two persons of opposite
sexes cannot sit embracing in a car in a public place like the driveway of
Mellingham Hall for long without being seen, and Barney and Chippendale,
returning from the Goose and Gander, got a good view of Jane and Jerry some
minutes later. They were just in time, for as they entered the gate the car
drove off.

‘Going
to be married, those two, wouldn’t you think.?’ said Chippendale, and Barney
replied that if they weren’t, they certainly ought to be, adding that they
appeared to have got off to a good start.

‘Mr
West and his girl friend,’ said Chippendale. ‘Nice fellow, Mr West.’

‘Couldn’t
be nicer.’

‘I’d
have liked to stay on here and see more of him.’

‘You’re
leaving us?’

‘Tomorrow,’
said Chippendale. He heaved a sigh. That’s the worst of being a broker’s man.
You didn’t know I was one, did you?’

‘Yes,
Mr Scrope told me. Drawback to being a broker’s man, you were saying?’

‘What I
had in mind was, you come to a house, get all comfortable, make nice friends,
and then all of a sudden you have to leave. You might call me a bird of
passage.’

‘A bird
of some kind, certainly.’

‘Sort
of sad.’

‘But
think how glad everybody will be to see you go.

‘Something
in that,’ said Chippendale, brightening.

‘Always
try to put yourself in the other fellow’s place. You’re one of those guys who
can make a party just by leaving it. It’s a great gift.’

‘I see
what you mean.’

‘You
remember that old song, Spread a little happiness. Let’s sing it, shall we?’

‘Okay.
I don’t recall the words too well. I’ll have to go tum-tum-tum a bit.’

‘Tum-tum-tum
to your heart’s content. It’s the spirit that matters. Ready?’

‘I’m
ready.’

‘Then
let’s get down to it.’

They
got down to it.

THE END