the young men finished the evening at pickering's. pickering's was george's club. george considered, rightly, that in the matter of his club he had had great luck. pickering's was a small club, and it had had vicissitudes. most men whose worldly education had been completed in st. james's were familiar with its historical name, but few could say off-hand where it was. its address was candle court, and candle court lay at the end of candle alley (a very short passage), between duke street and bury street. the court was in fact a tiny square of several houses, chiefly used by traders and agents of respectability—as respectability is understood in st. james's; it had a lamp-post of its own. the report ran, and was believed by persons entitled to an opinion, that the duke of wellington had for some years hidden there the lovely desire of his heart from an inquisitive west end. pickering's had, of course, originally been a coffee-house; later, like many other coffee-houses in the neighbourhood, it had developed into a proprietary club. misfortunes due to the caprices of taste and to competition had brought about an arrangement by which the ownership was vested in a representative committee. the misfortunes had continued, and at the beginning of the century a crisis was reached, and pickering's tried hard to popularize itself, thereby doing violence to its feelings. rules were abated, and the entrance-fee fell. it was in this period that everard lucas, whose ears were always open for useful items, heard of it and suggested it to george. george wanted to join lucas's club, which was in st. james's street itself, but lucas wisely pointed out that if they belonged to different clubs each would in practice have two clubs. moreover, he said that george might conceivably get a permanent bedroom there. the first sight of the prim, picturesque square, the first hint of scandal about the duke of wellington, de cided george. it was impossible for a man about town to refuse the chance of belonging to a club in a court where the duke of wellington had committed follies.
george was proposed, seconded, and duly elected, together with other new blood. some of the old blood naturally objected, but the feud was never acute. solely owing to the impression which his young face made on the powerful and aged hall-porter, george obtained a bedroom. it was small, and at the top of the house; but it was cheap, it solved the even more tiresome and uncomfortable problem of lodging; and further it was a bedroom at pickering's, and george could say that he lived at his club—an imposing social advantage. he soon learnt how to employ the resources of the club for his own utmost benefit. nobody could surpass him in choosing a meal inexpensively. he could have his breakfast in his bedroom for tenpence, or even sixpence when his appetite was poor. he was well served by a valet who apparently passed his whole life on stairs and landings. this valet, courteous rather in the style of old haim, had a brain just equal to the problems presented by his vocation. every morning george would say: "now, downs, how soon can i have my bath?" or "now, downs, what can i have for breakfast?" and downs would conscientiously cerebrate, and come forth after some seconds with sound solutions, such as: "i'll see if i can put you in before mr. de gales if you're in a hurry, sir," or "scrambled eggs, sir—it'll make a bit of a change." and when george agreed, downs would exhibit a restrained but real satisfaction. yes, george had been very lucky. the club too was lucky. the oldest member, who being paralysed had not visited the club for eleven years, died and bequeathed ten thousand pounds to the institution where he had happily played cards for several decades. pickering's was refurnished, and the stringency of its rules re-established. the right wing of the committee wished that the oldest member could have managed to die a year or two earlier and so obviated the crisis. it was recognized, however, by the more reasonable, that you cannot have everything in this world.
pickering's was very dull; but it was still pickering's. george was often bored at pickering's. he soon reached the stage at which a club member asserts gloomily that the club cookery is simply damnable. nevertheless he would have been desolated to leave pickering's. the place was useful to him in another respect than the purely material. [pg 118] he learnt there the code which governs the familiar relations of men about town.
on the night of the café royal dinner, george and lucas reclined in two easy chairs in the inner smoking-room of pickering's. they were alone. through the wide archway that marked the division between the inner and the outer smoking-rooms they could see one solitary old gentleman dozing in an attitude of abandonment, a magazine on his knees. ash-trays were full of ash and cigarette ends and matches. newspapers were scattered around, some folded inside out, some not folded, some whose component sheets had been divided for ever like the members of a ruined family. the windows were open, and one gave a view of the court's watchful lamp-post, and the other of the house—now occupied by an art dealer and a commission agent—where the duke had known both illusion and disillusion. the delicate sound of the collision of billiard-balls came from somewhere, and the rat-tatting of a tape-machine from somewhere else. the two friends had arrived at the condition of absolute wisdom and sagacity and tolerance which is apt to be achieved at a late hour in clubs by young and old men who have discussed at length the phenomena of society.
"well, i must be toddling," said lucas, yawning as he looked idly at the coloured horses on each wall who were for ever passing winning-posts or soaring over bullfinches or throwing riders into brooks.
"here! hold on!" george protested. "it's early."
"is it?"
they began again to smoke and talk.
"nice little thing, what's-her-name! what's her funny name?"
"laurencine, do you mean? yes." lucas spoke coldly, with a careful indifference. george, to whom insight had not been denied, understood that everard did not altogether care for laurencine to be referred to as a little thing, that he had rendered laurencine sacred by his secret approval.
"i say," said george, sitting up slightly, and increasing the intimacy of his tone, "devilish odd, wasn't it, that the wheeler woman didn't ask us up?"
hitherto they had avoided this question in their profound gossip. it had lain between them untouched, like a substance possibly dangerous and explosive. yet they could not have parted without touching it, and george, with char acteristic moral courage or rashness, had touched it first. lucas was of a mind to reply succinctly that the wheeler woman's conduct was not a bit devilish odd. but sincerity won. the dismissal at the entrance to the mansions had affected him somewhat deeply. it had impaired the perfection of his most notable triumph. the temptation to release his feelings was too strong.
"well, if you ask me," he answered, it was. after a little pause he went on:
"especially seeing that she practically asked me to ask them to dinner." his nice features loosened to dissatisfaction. "the deuce she did!"
"yes! practically asked me! anyhow, gave me the tip what can you do?" he implied that, far from deriving unique and unhoped-for glory from the condescension of irene wheeler in consenting to dine with him, he had conferred a favour on her by his invitation. he implied that brilliant women all over london competed for his invitations. his manner was entirely serious; it probably deceived even himself. george's manner corresponded, instinctively, chivalrously; but george was not deceived—at any rate in the subconscious depth of his mind.
"exactly!" murmured george.
"yes" said lucas. "she said: 'i could bring laurencine with me, if you can get another man. that would make a four.' she said she wanted to wake laurencine up."
"did you tell her you should ask me?" george questioned.
"oh! she seemed to know all about you, my boy."
"well, but she couldn't know all about me," said george insincerely. "well, if you want to know then, she suggested i should ask you."
"but she'd never seen me!"
"she's heard of you. mrs. orgreave, i expect."
"odd!... odd!" george now pretended to be academically assessing an announcement that had no intrinsic interest for him. in reality he was greatly excited.
"well you know what those sort of women are!" lucas summed up wisely, as if referring to truths of knowledge common among men of their kidney.
"oh, of course!"
the magazine slid from the knees of the sleeper. the sleeper snorted and woke up. the spell was broken. lucas rose suddenly. " bye-bye!" he was giving an ultimatum as to his departure.
george rose also, but slowly.
"all that doesn't explain why she didn't ask us up," said he.
but in his heart he thought he knew why miss wheeler hadn't asked them up. the reason was that she maliciously wanted to tantalize him, george. she had roused his curiosity about lois, and then she had said to herself: "you think you're going to see her to-night, but you just aren't." such, according to george, was irene wheeler the illustrious. he reflected on the exasperating affair until he had undressed and got into bed. but as soon as he had put out the light marguerite appeared before him, and at the back of her were the examiners for the final. he slept ill.
