splashed edge of the great swimming pool men hailed him; clerks and c[Pg 39]lub servants saluted him smilingly as he sauntered about through the place, still driven into motion by an inexplicable and unaccustomed restlessness. Cairns discovered him coming out of the billiard room: [Pg 39] "Have a snifter?" he suggested affably. "I'll find Ledyard and play you 'nigger' or 'rabbit' afterward, if you like." Desboro laid a hand on his friend's shoulder: "Jack, I've a business engagement at Silverwood to-morrow, and I believe I'd better go home to-night." "Heavens! You've just been there! And what about the shooting trip?" "I can join you day after to-morrow." "Oh, come, Jim, are you going to spoil our card quartette on the train? Reggie Ledyard will kill you." "He might, at that," said Desboro pleasantly. "But I've got to be at Silverwood to-morrow. It's a matter of business, Jack." "You and business! Lord! The amazing alliance! What are you going to do—sell a few superannuated Westchester hens at auction? By heck! You're a fake farmer and a pitiable piker, that's what you are. And Stuyve Van Alstyne had a wire to-night that the ducks and geese are coming in to the guns by millions——" "Go ahead and shoot 'em, then! I'll probably be along in time to pick up the game for you." "You won't go with us?" "Not to-morrow. A man can't neglect his own business every day in the year." [Pg 40] [Pg 40] "Then you won't be in Baltimore for the Assembly, and you won't go to Georgia, and you won't do a thing that you expected to. Oh, you're the gay, quick-change artist! And don't tell me it's business, either," he added suspiciously. "I do tell you exactly that." "You mean to say that nothing except sheer, dry business keeps you here?" The colour slowly settled under Desboro's cheek bones:
Prev.
Back
Top