Gorman

“ He’d never spoil sport for the likes of Gorman.”
“Not he. I warrant you Martin will be waiting on us, for I’ll step across and tell him myself. There’s no one else to mind but the women and a fool of a boy.”
“Begorrah, thin, we’ll stand by you, Larry. If Pat Corkill swings to plaze Maurice Gorman, Maurice shall roast to plaze us. But whisht! I’ll have a boat for the eight of yez at this time to-morrow.”
Then, one by one, they slunk off out of the dark shanty, leaving me behind the door in a fever of excitement and impatience. ”

“ The fact is I don’t like fighting.”
“I believe it,” said von Moll.
He spoke with a sneer, a heavily accentuated sneer. It was more like the sneer of the villain of old-fashioned melodrama than anything Gorman had ever seen.
“If you want a scrap,” said Gorman, “really want it, you know, you ought to knock up Phillips on your way back to your boat. He’s the first officer of the Ida. He’ll take you on. He’s six foot one and weighs about fourteen stone. He’ll simply wipe the floor with you; so unless you’re really keen on fighting some one you’d perhaps better leave him alone.” ”

“ By this time no English ships are left on the sea. It is an under-water boat of the Emperor, and she comes to seek the petrol stored in the cave.”
“Liable to disappointment then,” said Gorman. “That petrol’s gone.”
“I know it,” said the King, “therefore I say ‘Behold destiny.’ But I, Gorman, I laugh at destiny. I mock. I snap the finger and thumb of my hand. So.” He snapped the fingers of both hands with airy defiance. “I am a king. I play a game until the end. I die game-playing. And Corinne will not grieve too much. On Salissa I think Corinne loves less than in Paris. Hurrah, Gorman. ”

“ I could use a little loan. You know I have millions stashed away," the young man said angrily as Gorman remained silent. "I'll pay you as soon as the hounds take the chump who's leasing my hulk."
"Maybe you can earn some money." Gorman toyed with a paperweight. "Did you get a look at that big blond guy in the cafe—the one I told you about on the phone?"
"Yeah. Nice life-form he had with him. I wouldn't mind being in that body."
"Seems he wants somebody exterminated. And I told him I heard Jed Carmody was in the parish and might be interested." ”

“ Some day I shall give it up and devote the rest of my time to——”
“Don’t say art,” said Gorman.
Ascher opened his eyes and looked at Gorman with a mild kind of wonder.
“Of course,” he said, “I can never be an artist. I haven’t got the temperament, the soul, the capacity for abandon. But I might find enjoyment, the highest pleasure, in understanding, in appreciating, perhaps even in encouraging——”
“Sort of Mecenas,” said Gorman. “I wonder if Mecenas was a banker. He seems to have been a rich man.” ”

“ He was in high triumph. He had captured the Aschers, reserved the nicest table in the upper saloon and secured the exclusive service of the best table steward in the ship. I think he had interviewed the head cook. I began to appreciate Gorman’s qualities as a travelling companion. His handling of the servants of the Cunard Company during the voyage was masterly. I never was so well looked after before, though I always make it a practice to tip generously.
Gorman proposed that we should have another whisky and soda before going down to luncheon. He is a genial soul. ”

“ The promise of important affairs for discussion was another lure. Gorman loves important affairs, especially those of other people. But the mention of the Emperor interested him most. The introduction of his name made it certain that the important affairs were those of Salissa. And Gorman had always been anxious to understand in what way the Emperor was mixed up with Megalia and how he came to exercise an influence over that independent state. ”

“ Sir Bartholomew, on reflection, was inclined to agree with Gorman. Mere recognition, though agreeable to any king, is unsubstantial, and the support suggested was evidently doubtful.
“What else?” He spoke in a very confidential tone. “What other inducement would you suggest our offering? We are prepared to go a long way—to do a good deal——”
“Unfortunately for you,” said Gorman, “the king is pretty well off at present. He got £6,000 three weeks ago out of Bilkins—the man who ran the egg swindle—and until that’s spent he won’t feel the need of money. ”

“ The lift boy loved Gorman. His grins of delight showed that. Our table steward, a very competent young man, adored him. The head cook—I judged by the meals we had sent up to us—had a very strong personal affection for Gorman. I do not wonder. I am myself fond of Gorman now. So is Ascher. Mrs. Ascher goes further still. She respects and admires Gorman. But Mrs. Ascher is a peculiar woman. She respects people whom the rest of us only like. ”

“ CHAPTER XX KING KONRAD KARL took Gorman’s hand and wrung it heartily.
“My friend Gorman,” he said. “How are you? But I need not ask. I see. You are top-tipping.”
“Thanks,” said Gorman. “Salissa agrees with me. And Paris does not seem to have done you any harm.”
“Paris! Ah, in Paris one lives, and I am in the pink. But, alas and damn, I leave Paris. I take trains. I travel fast. I embark.” He waved his hand towards the steamer. “Finally, I arrive.”
“How did you come to embark in that curious-looking ship? I never saw a steamer like her before.”
“That,” said the King, “is the navy of Megalia. ”

“ It was much more puzzling to find a German naval officer engaged in storing large quantities of rubber tubing in a cave. Gorman confesses that he was utterly unable to make any sort of guess at the meaning of the affair. He was all the more anxious to begin his investigation.
The Queen and Phillips cheered up a little when the party started for the cave. Kalliope rowed, as usual. Gorman—all successful politicians are men of tact—settled himself in the bow of the boat. The Queen and Phillips were together in the stern and held each other’s hands. Gorman pretended to look at the scenery. ”

“ He pointed to the boat. He waved his arms wildly.
“Buck up,” he shouted, “it is—I will eat my hat—it is Corinne! She comes to me!”
“Nonsense,” said Gorman. “That’s Miss Donovan’s boat. She’s coming home for dinner. Sit down and don’t get excited.”
“I am sorry,” said the King, “but I cannot. It is impossible for me to keep on my hair when Corinne is coming.”
“Corinne isn’t coming,” said Gorman. “How could she?”
“I see her. I see her. The dickens, and Great Jupiter, my eyes see her.”
“You can’t tell one woman from another at that distance. What you see is either Miss Donovan or Kalliope.” ”

“ If laws had any effect on life, as Gorman pretends to believe, he would make one which would do away with Ascher. But he knows in his heart that he might just as well make a law forbidding the wind to blow from the east. ”

“ Gorman looked at her in pitying silence that he knew would convey to her the fact that he believed she had spoken truly. He knew her kind—the Western frontiers-woman, fighting all odds beside her mate to make a home out of the wilderness for themselves and their children. True pioneers, true Americans, striking out for themselves and building up the country, battling poverty and the unkindly elements. ”

“ Instead of answering, Gorman asked a question of his own. "Kind of hard on the other guy, isn't it?"
"He rates it for sticking me with a piece of statuary like this. Look at it this way, Les—in his own hulk he would've died; this way he's got a chance to live. Yeah, get him to make the flight, Les. You can charm the juice out of a lemon when you want to; it's your line of evil. ”

“ English statesmen, especially Liberals, who regard Ireland with serious intensity of feeling, offer great opportunities to men of Gorman’s temperament. But he thought that still more amusement might be obtained by playing politics with people like Steinwitz, von Moll, and the immensely pompous Emperor.
Donovan was anxious that Gorman should stay on the island. He listened, reluctantly, to all the Queen had to tell him. He heard about the cisterns in the cave. ”

“ Goldsturmer was not in the least discouraged by Gorman’s reticence.
“I cannot,” he said, “expect you to answer more frankly unless I am equally frank with you. I am at this time engaged in a business transaction of some importance with Madame Ypsilante. The sum of money involved is very large. It is”—Goldsturmer’s tone became reverent—“£10,000.”
“Can she pay?” said Gorman, “not that it’s any affair of mine whether she can or not.”
“The lady herself cannot pay; but the King—she tells me that his Majesty has recently sold an estate situated in Megalia to a wealthy American. ”

“ And Gabriel—the real Gabriel—was safe.
VI
The emaciated young man entered Gorman's office and locked the door behind him with an electroseal. "Disembodiment," he identified himself.
"So you did get a new body, Jed," the lawyer remarked affably. "Very good packaging. Makes you look like a poet or something."
"Good as a disguise, maybe, but one hell of a lousy hulk." The young man hurled himself into the chair by the desk. Even Gorman winced at the cruel treatment accorded such obvious fragility. "Gimme a milgot, Les. This thing—" he indicated his body with contempt—"is shot to Polaris. ”

“ Ascher admired Gorman’s art as an orator enough to make her forgive the vile purpose for which it was used.
When I began to listen to the speech again Gorman had reached his peroration.
The arts of war, he said, were the natural fruits of the human intellect in a society organised on an aristocratic basis. The development of the arts of peace and pleasure followed the birth of democracy. Tyrants and robber barons in old days loved to fight and lived to kill. The common, kindly men and women of our time, the now at length sovereign people, lived to love and desire peace above all things. ”

“ Gorman was fully alive to the indignity of his position, and to the fact that Master Garry, his ancient enemy, was mocking at his humiliation; but any attempt to moderate his attack upon the gong was detected by his mistress.
“Go on, Gorman! Beat it louder! The more they bellow the better; it will guide them into the landing-place.”
Christopher’s affected misapprehension of his mother’s pronouns created a diversion for some time, as it was perhaps intended to do. ”

“ He wanted, above all, to know about Ireland. Was Ireland in the throes of a civil war, or were her children taking their places in the ranks of the Allied Armies? Gorman was unreasonably annoyed by King Konrad Karl’s certainty that the Emperor would win the war and by Donovan’s passive neutrality of sentiment. For Gorman neutrality in any quarrel was no doubt inconceivable. As a younger man he might have been a rebel and given his life in some wild struggle against the power of England ”

“ Gorman walked straight up to that door.
“Here we are,” he said.
“Surely,” I said, “this Greek temple can’t be Ascher’s office?”
“This is the exact spot.”
“Tell me,” I said, “do we take off our shoes at the threshold or say grace, or perform some kind of ceremonial lustration? We can’t go in just as we are.”
Gorman did not answer me. He went through the door, the terribly impressive door, without even bowing. There was nothing for me to do but follow him. Tim followed me, nursing his cash register as if it had been a baby, a very heavy and awkwardly shaped baby. ”

“ They spread out, expectant that any moment might see the issuance of a bunch of steers escorted by the riders of B-in-a-box, prepared for battle. That anticipation faded as they rapidly neared the opening of the cañon, wide at the entrance, but narrowing and curving like a boomerang. It was a grim sight for any guards and watchers of Bradey to note the swift approach. No man called or shouted, each sat clamped to his saddle, reins in one hand, gun in the other. Gorman’s reins were on his horn, the black mare guided by his knees and there was a weapon in each hand. ”

“ Of Gorman I saw nothing more before I left New York. I think he went off to Detroit almost immediately after our interview with Ascher and Stutz. Gorman is not exactly the man to put his public duties before his private interests, but I am sure the public duties always come in a close second. Having settled, or thought he had settled, the affair of the cash register, he immediately turned his attention to that wealthy motor man in Detroit from whom he meant to get a subscription. The future of the Irish Party possibly, its comforts probably, depended on the success of Gorman’s mission. ”

“ There was something in the way he spoke, a note of arrogance, a suggestion of truculence, which nettled Gorman.
“Donovan,” he said, “is a free citizen of the United States of America. That’s what he says himself. I don’t expect he cares a damn about any emperor.”
“Ah well,” said Steinwitz, “it does not matter, does it? Since he has not bought the Island of [Pg 54] Salissa, no question is likely to arise. The Emperor will not object to his wandering round the Cyrenian Sea in the Ida.”
Gorman was singularly dull when he joined me in the smoking-room after luncheon. ”

“ Gorman probably knows more ways of making money than any man in London.
The consultation—the true starting point of the story of the Island of Salissa—took place in one of the King’s rooms in Beaufort’s. Madame Corinne was not there. She had, I think, gone to the opera. Gorman and the King dined well, as men do who can command the services of the chef at Beaufort’s. The wine they drank was not Vino Regalis. After dinner they sat in front of a fire. Brandy and coffee were on a small table set between their chairs. They smoked large and excellent cigars. ”