A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories
troubled eyes. Over the door was printed in gilt letters:    THE PRESIDENT'S SUITE.

Tears filled her eyes; truly they were kindly and thoughtful, these old friends of her husband.

And all night long she slept in the room of her late husband, the president of the Sagamore Angling Club, and dreamed till daybreak of ... Langham.

V

Langham, clad in tweeds from head to foot, sat on the edge of his bed. He had been sitting there since daybreak, and the expression on his ornamental face had varied between the blank and the idiotic. That the only woman in the world had miraculously appeared at Sagamore Lodge he had heard from Colonel Hyssop and Major Brent at dinner the evening before.

That she already knew of his presence there he could not doubt. That she did not desire his presence he was fearsomely persuaded.

Clearly he must go--not at once, of course, to leave behind him a possibility for gossip at his abrupt departure. From the tongues of infants and well-fed club-men, good Lord deliver us!

He must go. Meanwhile he could easily avoid her.

And as he sat there, savoring all the pent-up bitterness poured out for him by destiny, there came a patter of padded feet in the hallway, the scrape of nails, a sniff at the door-sill, a whine, a frantic scratching. He leaned forward and opened the door. His Highness landed on the bed with one hysterical yelp and fell upon Langham, paw and muzzle.

When their affection had been temporarily satiated, the dog lay down on the bed, eyes riveted on his late master, and the man went over to his desk, drew a sheet of club paper towards him, found a pen, and wrote:

"Of course it is an unhappy coincidence, and I will go when I can do so decently--to-morrow morning. Meanwhile I shall be away all day fishing the West Branch, and shall return too late to dine at the club table."I wish you a happy sojourn here--" This he reread and scratched out. "I am glad you kept His Highness." This he also scratched out. After a while he signed his name to the note, sealed it, and stepped into the hallway. At the farther end of the passage the door of her room was ajar; a sunlit-scarlet curtain hung inside. "Come here!" said Langham to the dog. His Highness came with a single leap. "Take it to ... her," said the man, under his breath. Then he turned sharply, picked up rod and creel, and descended the stairs.


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