I. A. R. Wylie

“ Llywelyn-ap-Morgan thought remorsefully of his Kamketchgars. It seemed to him that even the West African chieftain, by contrast, had been an innocent and gentle creature.
But Lord Northstone had gone to the gaming-table as a needle turns to a magnet, and the bishop came back sternly to his immediate task. For a moment he lost pride in it. It had become almost too easy—unsporting—like trapping a stupid, unwary animal The pseudo-nobleman's expression itself betrayed him. And best of all—saddest of all—the girl saw it and understood. Not all at once. ”

“ He looked up at her with his innocent, delightful smile.
"And now I should like to know whom I have to congratulate?" he said.
"I'm Gwenyth Jones," she answered solemnly, "and to-morrow, look you, I shall be Lady Northstone."
"Ardderchog!" said the bishop. "And how proud your people will be. They will have come a long way to see you married."
She could not hide the flash of distress. Her eyes dropped before his. The hand with the cracker ring trembled as she brushed away an imaginary strand of hair. ”

“ She finished her toilet, yawned and stretched herself, and then came gingerly down the sloping tiles to the bishop's side. She stood there in the gutter, looking down at him. Certainly, now that there were no lights—no music—she looked less child-like. "S'cuse my temper," she said; "it's never rosy in the morning, and it's been a trying night for us all. Anyhow, don't talk to me about Llanerchymeydd. I don't know the place. Never been there and don't want to go. The very name's worn me to a shadow. Fact is, dear old boy, I'm not Welsh. I can't speak Welsh. ”

“ Have you ever been in a West End gambling hell?' Which, of course, was a bad blow for me, Henrietta. Because I never had——"
"I should think not!" Henrietta exclaimed indignantly.
"But now I am going to." The bishop nodded grimly to the gentlemanly reflection, and the Celtic flavouring to his otherwise pellucid English became suddenly more marked. "If ever a man stands up again in my congregation to twit me I shall be able to look him in the face and say: 'Yes—and indeed I have'. I'll have no upstart Saxon telling me I don't know the ways of the devil." ”

“ Henrietta objected.
Her husband dropped from his cloud for a moment to consider her with a sorrowful perplexity.
"Henrietta, how unkind—how prejudiced! Because my brother is an actor—a member of a most distinguished and honourable profession—you forget his good heart, his generosity, his impulsiveness."
"I don't, Llywelyn. It's just what worries me. Good-hearted people do get one into such dreadful trouble."
"Thomas is the only man I know with imagination enough to understand my motive in going," the bishop added. ”

“ An ordinary mortal caught red-handed may be an object of sympathy as one man to another, but a bishop in like circumstances is a joke. Llywelyn-ap-Morgan realised, as he caught the faint but malicious flutter of the inspector's eyelid, that he would represent that gentleman's top note in humour for some years to come. ”

“ She felt for his hand and squeezed it hard.
"You're a sport. I always says myself if I gets my fun I don't mind paying for it. And you've had yours all right. My word, it was a treat just to see you. There isn't another man I know could have done it. You must be strong."
A faint comfort crept round the bishop's tired heart.
"I suppose I am—rather."
"All the same, you ought not to chuck people about like that," she added reprovingly. "You might have broken Jim's neck."
"If Jim is Lord Northstone," said the bishop, "I almost wish I had. He's a bad man." ”

“ But, really, if a man has half a figure—you know, Henrietta, I never thought my bishop's rig-out did me justice. The gaiters may have been well enough. Like the immortal Willoughby, I have a leg. But the apron—no, the apron was grotesque—really grotesque. ”

“ I brought her here."
"I take your lordship's word for it," said the inspector wickedly.
With his three constables looming discreetly in the shadow, he tramped back through the deserted passages. But the bishop lingered. With an eye to a strong realistic sermon, he took in the details of the general ruin. Amongst them the smashed roulette table gave him the keenest satisfaction. For a man of his years it had been a wonderful toss. Even that Kamketchgar fellow would have to admit that he knew how to tackle any devil—civilised or uncivilised. ”

“ Henrietta, I believe I am on the track of a new sociological principle——"
"Llywelyn," Henrietta interrupted in the same gentle and hopeless tone, "I do wish you would be careful. We're not in Kamketchgar. People won't understand you as they do there. And it's so important that they should understand. We came all this way to make them understand, didn't we?"
"I have heard people actually complain against modern evening-dress," the bishop pursued, tapping his beautiful shirt front with a proud forefinger. "They call it ugly. ”

“ It did undersized humanity good just to look at them. They were almost beautiful in their largeness—their air of having always occupied the centre of the pavement—and the bishop's borrowed fur coat fairly exhaled opulence. Mr. Rhys Glendower, sensing an appreciative audience, broke off in the middle of a detailed description of the evening's triumph to squeeze his brother's arm.
"You're just perfect, dear fellow. Just perfect. The histrionic talent must run in the family. You don't even look respectable, let alone clerical, which is just as well. ”

“ The elderly lady with the jet brooch happened to be among them, but she made no stand in the least worthy of her ferocious reputation, and in less than a minute the whole battery was masked and silent. Mr. Rhys Glendower held out longest, partly because he had a genuine right to stare and partly because, as an actor, he was accustomed to keep his countenance under the most trying ordeals. But in the end he too sought refuge in his dinner. "It's all right now," the bishop announced genially. "They won't laugh again, I think."
"That's because they're afraid," she said reverently. ”

“ I feel more in touch with life, Henrietta. It's extraordinary. As though my gaiters had been a gulf between me and my fellow-creatures. Perhaps they were. According to my theory they would be. One cannot really speak out to soul with a fellow who offends one's sartorial sense of fitness. Clothes are a method of self-expression, and a man who wears gaiters and an apron and a curly brimmed hat deliberately dissociates himself from his kind. ”

“ You've had your lesson, dear boy. Keep out of the soup. Next time a girl don't know which is the right end of her asparagus, you look the other way. Promise?"
"Promise," said the bishop.
"Well—then you can come and see me on my bus. I reckon Jim's just worrying his poor old head off."
The descent down the fire escape was uneventful and unobserved. The bishop, his ruined opera hat under one arm, followed his guide passively. He had almost ceased to think. The process seemed quite useless. But as they stood together at a windy corner one thought did flash upon him. ”

“ He made a sinister, suggestive gesture.
"I shall do nothing foolish," the bishop assured him simply; "I have faced danger too often to lose my head now."
"Dear Llywelyn!" his brother murmured with affection. "What a delightful fellow you are. One of the very best. Positively my conscience smites me——"
"It is too late to turn back," the bishop answered.
This was not to be denied. They had reached the end of the shining corridor, and a uniformed Cerberus had already laid hold of the bishop's fur coat and received his opera hat with obsequious determination. ”

“ My father was minister at the Ebenezer Chapel He wanted me to be minister after him, but I wouldn't, and it nearly broke the old fellow's heart. Dear me, dear me, just hearing you brings it all back—the big mountain and the yellow-faced chapel perched on the top, deacons in their black coajs, and the long, long dusty road on Sunday——"
"It was like that at Llancrchymeydd," she broke in eagerly. "The chapel is on a mountain too; we have to walk all the way from the village. ”

“ The large room, showily yet cheaply furnished, brilliantly lit yet dim and misty with smoke and heat, the long green table under the concentrated glare of electric light, the tense crowd of men and women—it was all like a huge tableau posed by an academician with an eye to the picture of the year. ”

“ The police have been after him for years. Far too clever. Don't stare. We'll be seeing him again. Have some of your champagne, dear fellow."
"I suppose I'd better," the bishop consented doubtfully.
"Much better. It will help you to keep up appearances. We don't want anyone to suspect you. They're naturally rather nervy. Anything might happen to any of them any minute."
"If my Kamketchgars knew there was a place like this in England," said the bishop with sudden bitterness, "they'd be so shocked they'd wipe the lot of us off the face of the earth."
Mr. Glendower shrugged dispassionately. ”

“ One does not live among the Kamketchgars without learning to act promptly and with dexterity under all circumstances, and the bishop's manœuvre was carried out in perfect order. He stood between the girl and the curious, amused watchers and held out his big hand. ”

“ Arrested last night in a gambling hell—defying the police—no—no, Henrietta, don't faint—for heaven's sake—it was a fake—all through—best actors in London—perfect stage management—best thing I've ever done—absolute realism—every scene rehearsed—except one—Llywelyn's. ”

“ Waiter—the bill."
"But, my dear Llywelyn, think of your position."
"I do think of it," the bishop answered simply. "And I am doing my best to live up to it. I shall not let that poor child out of my sight till she is safe—even if I have to go to the devil myself." He lit a very large cigar with a somewhat conscious air of abandon. "Tell me, Thomas, as one artist to another, don't you think I'm rather wonderful?"
Mr. Rhys Glendower's sardonically set mouth relaxed.
"Wonderful!" he admitted resignedly. "But I don't complain. Henrietta warned me that you would be——" ”

“ And he was so sorry for her that he decided that to-morrow Henrietta and he would take her back to Llanerchymeydd and explain matters. They would throw an episcopal halo round the girlish escapade, and if that did not do, the bishop's connection with the Ebenezer Chapel might help to establish friendly relations. The bishop, in fact, was simultaneously performing a work of rescue and reconciliation among his native mountains and telling his best story in a London taxi, when the latter jerked to a violent and disconcerting standstill.
"It's the liveliest den in London," Glendower explained. ”

“ Civilisation is only another word for dissimulation. We all try to look what we are not, and some of us succeed. That party on your right, for instance—no, don't turn immediately—might be Surbiton out for its yearly 'do.' Well I know for a fact that two of them have 'done time'. Forgery. The elderly lady with hair parted down the middle and the jet brooch—ten years—passing faked Bank of England notes—a very violent and dangerous character into the bargain——"
"I think that's really tragic," the bishop interrupted. "A very nice-looking old lady ”

“ It—it would have been respectable—people would have understood."
"Henrietta, whenever and wherever we oppose the devil we are respectable," the bishop answered. "Besides," he added reminiscently, "it's always the other fellow who gets killed." ”

“ He sat back, his fists clenched on the: table, his shoulders squared, his eyes two points of white-hot anger. "My dear Llywelyn," Glendower began with contrition, "I wouldn't hive hurt your feelings for the world. I'm sure under your shepherding the Kamketchgars make the most admirable citizens."
"The cads! The unspeakable cads!" the bishop exclaimed passionately.
"Well," his brother retorted, "you asked me to show you the species. If you wanted angels——"
"Can't they even respect innocency?" the bishop demanded of high heaven. ”

“ I lose myself so completely in the part, you know, that nothing less than steak and onions restores my mental balance. And we have an hour before closing time. Follow me, and I beg of you to show discretion. Though outwardly a restaurant, like any other, this place is frequented by people of the worst character. ”