Herman Cyril McNeile

“ The only point I couldn't quite get at was whether Moyra had any idea as to the state of affairs. A woman generally spots that particular ailment in a man on the very first symptom, but then Polton was hardly a man. He was an atrophied calculating machine.
I understood now the reason for his remarks to me before dinner. Evidently he'd been trying to pump me about Moyra, and I smiled inwardly. There was one thing at any rate in which ruthless business efficiency availed nothing, and that was in the matter of love. Bill, with his paltry two thousand, won in a canter there. ”

“ Did you come back specially from Africa to do it?"
"More or less," grinned Bill. "The little swine swindled me out of all my money."
"Did he indeed?" said Uncle William. "Then what are you going to do about that niece of mine? Can't marry her without money; must marry her if you've ducked Polton. We couldn't let you out of the family. Come and dine at my club, my boy. Wonderful port. We'll talk things over. To-night, at eight. And tell Moyra to order her trousseau." ”

“ Polton shrugged his shoulders.
"Saunderson looks pretty well salted," he said. "Of course if you don't care about the job—don't take it. I'm merely doing it to oblige Miss Jackson."
"Who will come out there with me," put in Bill quietly.
Polton started perceptibly.
"Impossible," he said decisively. "The climate is out of the question for a white woman. You would have no right whatever to take her out there. In fact, as a friend of her father's, I should feel compelled to withdraw my offer unless you give me your word of honor that you won't do anything of the sort." ”

“ The digression is only apparent; in reality it has a close bearing on what is to follow. But I must mention briefly the unfortunate contretemps that took place that night over the card-table.
Fate—in the shape of cutting—decreed that Mr. Jackson and I played against Polton and Uncle William, whom I will now introduce. Uncle William was and is a bachelor, with, I regret to state, a penchant for vintage port. And that night at dinner he had consumed four glasses. He was an Anglo-Indian of fiery temperament and considerable wealth, and he suffered from one great delusion. ”

“ You can't start in on a show at the top; you've got to begin at the bottom—as our Julius did. Pushing a truck on little rails. Bill could get a job at that to-morrow, provided he joined a trade-union and promised only to push one truck an hour."
"You're a fool, Squash-face," she announced witheringly.
"Maybe, my dear," I agreed. "But I do know something about business and its ways, and there is no good prophesying good things. Besides, I'm far too fond of you and Bill. There are two ways of getting a job that is worth being called a job to-day: one is by ability and the other by influence. ”

“ There are men with whom it is a pleasure to play cards, and there are others. Herbert Polton was one of the others. It was not, as he pointed out after a few preliminary remarks, that he objected to the loss of money, but that he considered that there should be some standard of proficiency which must be attained before people were allowed to play. To which Uncle William replied that if the same idea was extended to lawn tennis and manners he would be the first to agree with it. And with that the subject dropped—save in Uncle William's mind. ”

“ I asked, pushing over the cigarets.
"Merely that the British East African Combine Ltd. is the most almighty swindle," he answered wearily.
"But Moyra told me you were making your fortune."
He laughed a little bitterly.
"There was no good making her unhappy. It was a lie, of course; though when I wrote that letter I had something else in my mind which might have turned up trumps. It didn't, and that's that. And then she wrote and told me she was going to come out and join me. That's why I've come back—to stop her. By heavens, old man," he burst out savagely, "it's a foul ramp, that scheme. ”

“ Twenty to thirty per cent; perhaps even fifty, depending entirely on the amount of work put in by the owner. Also, of course, a bit of luck; there's bound to be the element of chance in farming. But the great thing was the life. First-class shooting; congenial society of the type who speak the language, as the phrase goes; a wonderful climate. And the name of the company which was running the whole affair was the British East African Combine, Ltd.
It had Bill hooked fast and Moyra, too. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”