the grey melancholy which accompanied mr. cootes like a diligent spectre as he began his walk back to the town of market blandings, and which not even the delightful evening could dispel, was due primarily, of course, to that sickening sense of defeat which afflicts a man whose high hopes have been wrecked at the very instant when success has seemed in sight. once or twice in the life of every man there falls to his lot something which can only be described as a soft snap, and it had seemed to mr. cootes that this venture of his to blandings castle came into that category. he had, like most members of his profession, had his ups and downs in the past, but at last, he told himself, the goddess fortune had handed him something on a plate with watercress round it. once established in the castle, there would have been a hundred opportunities of achieving the capture of lady constance’s necklace: and it had looked as though all he had to do was to walk in, announce himself, and be treated as the honoured guest. as he slouched moodily between[p. 178] the dusty hedges that fringed the road to market blandings, edward cootes tasted the bitterness that only those know whose plans have been upset by the hundredth chance.
but this was not all. in addition to the sadness of frustrated hope, he was also experiencing the anguish of troubled memories. not only was the present torturing him, but the past had come to life and jumped out and bitten him. a sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things, and this was what edward cootes was doing now. it is at moments like this that a man needs a woman’s tender care, and mr. cootes had lost the only woman in whom he could have confided his grief, the only woman who would have understood and sympathised.
we have been introduced to mr. cootes at a point in his career when he was practising upon dry land; but that was not his chosen environment. until a few months back his business had lain upon deep waters. the salt scent of the sea was in his blood. to put it more exactly, he had been by profession a card-sharper on the atlantic liners; and it was during this period that he had loved and lost. for three years and more he had worked in perfect harmony with the lady who, though she adopted a variety of names for purposes of travel, was known to her immediate circle as smooth lizzie. he had been the practitioner, she the decoy, and theirs had been one of those ideal business partnerships which one so seldom meets with in a world of cynicism and mistrust. comradeship had ripened into something deeper and more sacred, and it was all settled between them that when they next touched new york, mr. cootes, if still at liberty, should proceed to the city hall for a marriage-licence; when they had quarrelled—quarrelled irrevocably over one of[p. 179] those trifling points over which lovers do quarrel. some absurd dispute as to the proper division of the quite meagre sum obtained from a cattle millionaire on their last voyage had marred their golden dreams. one word had led to another. the lady, after woman’s habit, had the last of the series, and even mr. cootes was forced to admit that it was a pippin. she had spoken it on the pier at new york, and then passed out of his life. and with her had gone all his luck. it was as if her going had brought a curse upon him. on the very next trip he had had an unfortunate misunderstanding with an irritable gentleman from the middle west, who, piqued at what he considered—not unreasonably—the undue proportion of kings and aces in the hands which mr. cootes had been dealing himself, expressed his displeasure by biting off the first joint of the other’s right index finger—thus putting an abrupt end to a brilliant career. for it was on this finger that mr. cootes principally relied for the almost magical effects which he was wont to produce with a pack of cards after a little quiet shuffling.
with an aching sense of what might have been he thought now of his lost lizzie. regretfully he admitted to himself that she had always been the brains of the firm. a certain manual dexterity he had no doubt possessed, but it was ever lizzie who had been responsible for the finer work. if they had still been partners, he really believed that she could have discovered some way of getting round the obstacles which had reared themselves now between himself and the necklace of lady constance keeble. it was in a humble and contrite spirit that edward cootes proceeded on his way to market blandings.
* * * * *
[p. 180]miss peavey, meanwhile, who, it will be remembered, was moving slowly along the road from the market blandings end, was finding her walk both restful and enjoyable. there were moments, it has to be recorded, when the society of her hostess and her hostess’s relations was something of a strain to miss peavey; and she was glad to be alone. her headache had disappeared, and she revelled in the quiet evening hush. about now, if she had not had the sense to detach herself from the castle platoon, she would, she reflected, be listening to lord emsworth’s speech on the subject of the late hartley reddish, j.p., m.p.: a topic which even the noblest of orators might have failed to render really gripping. and what she knew of her host gave her little confidence in his powers of oratory.
yes, she was well out of it. the gentle breeze played soothingly upon her face. her delicately modelled nostrils drank in gratefully the scent from the hedgerows. somewhere out of sight a thrush was singing. and so moved was miss peavey by the peace and sweetness of it all that she, too, began to sing.
had those who enjoyed the privilege of her acquaintance at blandings castle been informed that miss peavey was about to sing, they would doubtless have considered themselves on firm ground if called upon to make a conjecture as to the type of song which she would select. something quaint, dreamy, a little wistful . . . that would have been the universal guess . . . some old-world ballad, possibly . . .
what miss peavey actually sang—in a soft, meditative voice like that of a linnet waking to greet a new dawn—was that curious composition known as “the beale street blues.”
as she reached the last line, she broke off abruptly. she was, she perceived, no longer alone. down the[p. 181] road toward her, walking pensively like one with a secret sorrow, a man was approaching; and for an instant, as she turned the corner, something in his appearance seemed to catch her by the throat and her breath came sharply.
“gee!” said miss peavey.
she was herself again the next moment. a chance resemblance had misled her. she could not see the man’s face, for his head was bent, but how was it possible . . .
and then, when he was quite close, he raised his head, and the county of shropshire, as far as it was visible to her amazed eyes, executed a sudden and eccentric dance. trees bobbed up and down, hedgerows shimmied like a broadway chorus; and from out of the midst of the whirling country-side a voice spoke.
“liz!”
“eddie!” ejaculated miss peavey faintly, and sat down in a heap on a grassy bank.
