Jack Benson

“ He thinks Jack is very sharp, and he is quite right. You are very sharp, too, Alice, and so am I. How pleasant for us all, and how right we are to be friends! Dear me! if you, Jack, and I were enemies, we should soon make London too hot to hold any of us. As it is, the temperature is perfectly charming."
"And is this bounder going to make you and Jack very rich?" asked Lady Haslemere.
"The bounder is going to do his best," laughed Kit; "at least, Jack thinks so. But it would need a very persevering sort of bounder to make us rich for long together. Money is so restless ”

“ Jack said nothing. He was inclined to be a little strenuous himself in some ways, and he had always been conscious of a faint annoyance with Dick's extreme leisureliness.
"I see you agree," went on Dick. "Well, we must see what can be done."
He stood up smiling and began to expand and contract his fingers luxuriously before the fire behind his back.
"If we can only get Frank away," murmured Jack. "That's enough for the present."
"And what do you propose to do with him then?"
"Oh, Lord! Anything. Go round the world if he likes. Come and stay at my place." ”

“ Through he did not turn and walk in her direction, Jack, thereafter, kept the young Swedish woman much more under secret observation.
"By Jove, I know what she's doing, now," muttered the young skipper. "That movement of her elbow betrays her, and her eyes are fixed, much of the time on her lap. If she isn't sketching something, on the sly, then my eyesight isn't as good as it used to be!"
Captain Jack Benson found himself quickly aquiver with suspicion and indignation. ”

“ He could have listened for ever; but the voice made a sudden stop, not prolonging the last note, but keeping very closely to the time; the pipe played a little run, like an echo of the song, the man struck a brisk chord on the lute—and all was over. "Bravely played, Jack!" said the singer; "no musician could have played it better. You remembered what I told you, to keep each note separate, and have no gliding. This song must trip from beginning to end, like a brisk bird that hops on the grass." Then he turned to Paul and, with a smile, said, "Reverend sir, how does my song please you?" ”

“ Even after the lapse of a fortnight the thought of that evening was a smart and a mortification. Jack was going to entrust the ship of his fortunes to the wild man who sang hymns, and played a harmonium, for aught she knew, and her really laudable desire to have some hold, some handle over him, had ended in this débâcle. It was not certain, indeed, that he had seen, but Kit could not but admit that it was highly probable. ”

“ You do not mind ruining Jack's whole career. He has been offered the War Office. You stop all that, and, what matters more, you annihilate all that he will certainly do for the country. He is not an ordinary man; he is in some ways, perhaps, a great one. It is certain, anyhow, that the country believes in him and that your Empire needs him. But you stop all that like—" and she blew out the match with which she had lit her cigarette.
Marie shook her head. ”

“ Dear Andrew! he always remembers my birthday, while I always strive to forget it. One has so many. But he gave me these pearls. Are they not pretty? Yes, Jack, you are booming. You are in the air!"
"That is always rather a nuisance," remarked Jack. "One can't help wanting to assure people that a close inspection will not repay them."
"I don't think you need mind much. People are disposed to take a favourable view of you. You must manage to keep it up. The time of pigs and shorthorns is here," she said with a sigh. "Look: there is Silly Billy talking to Marie! ”

“ He knew perfectly well that by now letters and telegrams must be waiting for him at Jack's home, including at least one from Jenny, and probably a dozen; but as to Jenny, he knew she would understand, and as to the rest, he honestly did not care at all. He sent her a picture postcard once or twice—from Ely, Peterborough, Sleaford and Newark—towns where he stayed for a Sunday (I have seen in Sleaford the little room where he treated himself to a bed for two nights) —and was content. He made no particular plans for the future; he supposed something would turn up ”

“ Just as might have been expected, Jack Benson wasn't there at that instant.
Instead, he dodged nimbly to one side, at the same time driving in a blow that landed under one of the chauffeur's ears. The fellow went to the ground. Swift as a flash Jack bent over him, and snatched up the wrench, hurling it off among the trees.
Then Jack wheeled around to face Mlle. Nadiboff, bowing.
"Don't you attempt to do anything, I beg of you, Mademoiselle," Jack urged. "It would come fearfully hard to have to make even the signs of striking at a woman." ”

“ This evening, then.... I say, Jack!"
Jack turned.
"Jack, this is Major and Mrs. Trustcott, I told you of. This is my friend, Mr.—er—Mr. Jack."
Jack bowed vaguely, overwhelmed with disgust.
"Very happy to make your acquaintance, sir," said the Major, straightening himself in a military manner. "My good lady and I were resting here. Very pleasant neighborhood."
"I'm glad you like it," said Jack.
"Then, this evening," said Frank again. "Can you wait an hour or two?"
"Certainly, my boy," said the Major. "Time's no consideration with us, as you know." ”

“ Dinner was over, and they sat on the south of the terrace-fronted house; a full moon moved like a queen bee among the swarming stars, and the world was refashioned out of soft darkness and ivory and pearl. Pearl-coloured was Jeannie’s dress, and she the pearl of pearls.
“How strange one’s life goes in acts,” she said. “The act at Wroxton is over now, but what a pleasant one it was. Oh, Jack, I hope this act will be a long one. Do you remember the plank bridge by the mill, and Toby shaking himself?” ”

“ At this Jack, mentally, threw up the sponge.
"You really mean to go on at this rotten idea of yours?"
Frank opened his eyes wide.
"Why, of course. Good Lord! did you think I was bluffing?"
"But ... but it's perfectly mad. Why on earth don't you get a proper situation somewhere—land-agent or something?"
"My dear man," said Frank, "if you will have it, it's because I want to do exactly what I'm going to do. No—I'm being perfectly serious. I've thought for ages that we're all wrong somehow. We're all so beastly artificial. I don't want to preach, but I want to test things for myself. ”

“ They were both glowing with the splendid air and exercise, and were just in that state of weariness that is almost unmixed physical pleasure to an imaginative thinker who contemplates a hot bath, a quantity of tea, and a long evening in a deep chair. Frank still preserved his impassive kind of attitude towards things in general, but Jack noticed with gentle delight that he seemed more off his guard, and that he even walked with something more of an alert swing than he had on that first evening when they trudged up the drive together. ”

“ Farnum's voice!" throbbed the real Jack, all agog with wonder.
Immediately there dashed between the trees a panting boy in a uniform identically like Benson's.
"That you, Hal?" shouted the real Jack.
"Yes," came a hoarse answer.
"What's wrong?"
"Run to Farnum—quick!"
"You're a liar, whoever you are!" retorted Jack, putting himself in motion after the fugitive. "You're not Hal Hastings—nor yet Eph Somers!"
The race was a spirited one. The fugitive ran splendidly, gamely, but Jack Benson's wind had had a long rest, and now he was in the pink of condition for sprinting. ”

“ He was a major."
"And did you—"
"That's enough, Jill," said her mother decidedly. "Don't bother Mr. Guiseley. He's tired with his walk."
The two young men sat quiet for a minute or two after the ladies had left the room. Then Jack spoke.
"Well?" he said.
Frank looked up. There was an odd, patient kind of look in his eyes that touched Jack a good deal. Frank had not been distinguished for submissiveness hitherto.
"Oh! a bit later, if you don't mind," he said. "We can talk in the smoking-room." ”

“ She went to her own room, where she knew that no one would disturb her, and shut herself in. Jack would be away all day, and till evening she would be alone. A few people were coming down with him then from town, among them Toby and his wife, Ted Comber, and several others of their set. On the whole, she was glad they were coming; it was better to be distracted than to brood over things which no brooding will mend. Above all, she wanted an interval in which Jack and she would not be alone. ”

“ Jack got up, then paused, indecisive.
"You mean you will tell Marie?" he asked.
"If you wish me to. But there is a simpler plan."
"What is that?" asked Jack.
"Show Mildred the door—the back-door," she added.
[Pg 241]
"I can't."
"Very good; that is your affair," said she. "But make up your mind soon what you will do. Any line is better than none, as it was always."
At the moment a footman entered.
"Ask her to wait in the drawing-room," said Lady Ardingly, before he had spoken. Then, without pausing: "Good-bye, Jack. Send me a line; or we shall meet at Ascot, shall we not?" ”

“ Jack recounted a story of Red Indians and ambuscades and a bow and arrows, ending in the flight of a frantic stag over the palings and among the garden beds; it was on a Sunday afternoon, too.
"Frank was caned by the butler, I remember; by Lord Talgarth's express orders. Certainly he richly deserved it. I was a guest, and got off clear."
"How old were you?"
"We were both about eleven, I think."
"Frank doesn't strike me as more than about twelve now," observed Jenny.
"There's something in that," admitted Jack.... "Oh! Lord! how hot it is!" He fanned himself with his hat. ”

“ I should not think his party would like it, and I am sure the Government will not."
"Ah, I disagree with you there," said Marie. "Jack, I think, is getting a great hold on the people—the masses, if you like. He dislikes them, and he treats them like dirt; but the masses, as you know, are profound snobs, and rather enjoy that. They like a lord to behave in the way they imagine lords do behave. They even like a wicked lord. On the other hand, they are beginning to see that Jack means business. ”

“ I promise, but—"
"That's all right," said Frank, and moved on.
"I say," said Jack, as they came up to the hall door. "Will you talk now or will you change, or what?"
"I should like a hot bath first. By the way, have you anyone staying in the house?"
"Not a soul; and only two sisters at home. And my mother, of course."
"What about clothes?"
"I'll see about that. Come on round to the smoking-room window. Then I'll get in Jackson and explain to him. I suppose you don't mind your name being known? He'll probably recognize you, anyhow." ”

“ Damn! I've got to go to a tobacconist's; it's only just here. There isn't a cigarette in the house. Come with me?"
"I'll wait here," said Frank.
"Will you? I shan't be a second."
It was, as a matter of fact, scarcely one minute before Jack was back; he had darted in, snatched a box from the shelf and vanished, crying out to "put it down to him." He found Frank had faced round again and was staring at the water and sky and high moors. He snatched up his friend's bundle and stick. ”

“ The moors had been pretty well shot over already since the twelfth of August, but the two had a very pleasant day, for all that, a couple of days later. They went but with a keeper and half a dozen beaters—Frank in an old homespun suit of Jack's, and his own powerful boots, and made a very tolerable bag. There was one dramatic moment, Jack told me, when they found that luncheon had been laid at a high point on the hills from which the great gray mass of Merefield and the shimmer of the lake in front of the house were plainly visible only eight miles away. ”

“ His becoming a Catholic had been an amazing shock to Jack, who had always supposed that Frank, like himself, took the ordinary sensible English view of religion. To be a professed unbeliever was bad form—it was like being a Little Englander or a Radical; to be pious was equally bad form—it resembled a violent devotion to the Union Jack. No; religion to Jack (and he had always hitherto supposed, to Frank) was a department of life in which one did not express any particular views: one did not say one's prayers; one attended chapel at the proper times ”

“ He had bought some tobacco, and two or three other things that afternoon, and the total amounted now but to twelve pounds nineteen shillings and fourpence.
"Call it thirteen pounds," said Frank. "There's many a poor man—"
"Don't be a damned fool!" said Jack.
"I'm being simply prudent," said Frank. "A contented heart—"
Jack thrust a cup of tea and the buttered buns before him.
These two were as nearly brothers as possible, in everything but blood. Their homes lay within ten miles of one another. They had gone to a private school together, to Eton, and to Trinity. ”

“ One learns what a little thing is life, and how great. Also it seems as if I was learning to be egoistic.”
She got up out of her chair.
“Oh, you have done me good!” she cried. “Look, what was that?”
Jack had seen it, too; it was as if the sky had winked. They waited in silence, and in a few minutes came the growl of answering thunder. Jeannie stretched out her arms with a great sigh.
“Thunder!” she cried. “Perhaps there will be rain. How I have prayed for that. You don’t know what it may mean to us. ”