Tally Ho

“ Two level, oblong patches of hair made eyebrows. His face was white and nervous. A strong, hooked nose separated a pair of red-brown eyes, small and twinkling, like a chipmunk's. Just now they were bloodshot and vague.
"Hullo, Dicky Darrell," said Tally.
The man struggled to his feet, knocking over the chair, and laid both hands effusively on Tally's shoulders.
"Jim!" he cried thickly. "Good ole Jim! Glad to see you! Hav' drink!"
Tally nodded, and, to Bob's surprise, took his place at the bar.
"Hav' 'nother!" cried Darrell. "God! I'm glad to see you! Nobody in town." ”

“ Thalis paused to fumble at it for an instant, apparently sliding home a bolt, and as she took her hand from Natala's mouth to perform this act, the Brythunian girl began to scream at the top of her voice. Thalis's laugh was like poisoned honey in the darkness.
"Scream if you will, little fool. It will only shorten your life." ”

“ And Thalis, I'd take it kindly if you'd furnish us with a bit of food and drink."
For answer Thalis leaned herself against him, slipping one white arm about his bronzed shoulders. Her sleek naked flank pressed against his thigh and the perfume of her foamy hair was in his nostrils.
"Why dare the desert?" she whispered urgently. "Stay here! I will teach you the ways of Xuthal. I will protect you. I will love you! You are a real man: I am sick of these moon-calves who sigh and dream and wake, and dream again. I am hungry for the hard, clean passion of a man from the earth. ”

“ Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said that we men are all in the gutter; but some of us are looking at the stars. You're looking at the stars, Beresford, that's all."
"I suppose you're right," said Beresford a little doubtfully.
"With you it's the spirit of romance," continued Tallis quietly. "If you had lived a few centuries earlier, you would have gone about the country on a horse with a ten-foot pole asking for trouble. You would have been a disciple of Peter the Hermit, and every other uncomfortable person who preached the high-falutin'. The only trouble is that you won't face facts." ”

“ Returning to his chair he reached for the tobacco-jar.
"I don't want her to think——" he began as he proceeded mechanically to fill his pipe, then he stopped.
"That you're after the money," suggested Tallis. "Couldn't you somehow manage to convey to her that she, and not her millions, is 'the goods'?"
"No, I can't, and what's more, I won't," snapped Beresford irritably.
"That ten-foot pole again, young fellow," smiled Tallis. "You're going to sacrifice your only chance of happiness for an abstract code of honour. Well, it's your funeral; but I'm sorry. What's it to be?" ”

“ Six appears to have been the favorite number. We find in a previous picture that he is represented as the man with six heads. The public men signalized by this simple device were said to belong to the Order of the Weather-cock; and it was the interest of the reactionists, who urged on the trial and execution of Ney and his comrades, to cover them with odium. To this day much of that odium clings to the name of Talleyrand. A man who keeps a cool head in the midst of madmen is indeed a most offensive person, and Talleyrand committed this enormity more than once in his life. ”

“ Tallien, weary and dazed, always of a delicate constitution, felt nigh to swooning. His knees were shaking, a cold dread of the supernatural held his heart with an icy grip and caused his hair to tingle at the roots. His tongue felt huge and as if paralysed, his teeth were chattering together. It was as much as he could do not to measure his length on the ground; and the vague desire to remain unobserved kept him crouching in the gloom.
He just could flee the tall stranger pass his hands over the body on the floor, and could hear the other ask him a question in English. ”

“ Tallyho enjoyed the scene to the very acme of delight, and giving the reins to his experienced courser, high in blood, and eager for accustomed exercise, the noble animal accompanied by its companion under the guidance of Dashall, started off with unrivalled celerity, and in a few moments set all competition at defiance. ”

“ A run of ill luck has at last sent him here, but not before he had honoured almost all the horse-dealers, coach-makers, and saddlers, gunsmiths and tavern-keepers in Town, with his custom, or rather with his name on their books. His father is a man of considerable property, which must eventually come to him, and he may yet form a conspicuous figure in High Life.”
“What have we here?” said Tallyho, stopping to read a paper displayed in the window of a barber's shop. ”

“ Suffice it to say they returned refreshed from the excursion, and parted with a promise to meet again at nine o'clock, in Grosvenor Square.
“Egad!” said Dashall, as they entered the diningroom, “there is something very mysterious in all this. Sparkle has hitherto been the life and soul of society: he seems to be deeply smitten with this young Lady, Miss Mortimer, and promises fairly, by his manner, to prove a deserter from our standard, and to inlist under the banners of Hymen.”
“Not unlikely,” replied Tallyho, “if what we are told be true—that it is what we must all come to.” ”

“ Said Gerald Trevor to George Tarlyon, whom he met wandering downwards:—
“George, I ask you to observe that women are odd: if you restrain yourself, they resent it: and if you don’t restrain yourself, you bore them. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
“Treat ’em rough, old man. And so to bed,” yawned George Tarlyon, handsome Tarlyon. Much will come of that young man, it was said. And much indeed was to come of that young man, in the fullness of war and peace. He will meet Ivor Marlay; and he will laugh at him. ”

“ So, with his own hands he carried the golden tripod to the little house where Thales lived. He knocked at the door and the wise man himself opened it.
Then the governor told him how the tripod had been found, and how the oracle had said that it must be given to the wisest of the wise.
"And so I have brought the prize to you, friend Thales."
"To me!" said the astonished Thales. "Why, there are many men who are wiser than I. There is my friend Bias [Footnote: Bi'as] of Priene. [Footnote: Prie'ne] He excels all other men. Send the beautiful gift to him." ”

“ Hullo, here’s Hugo with a smile like a rainbow!”
“I should think so!” cried Hugo. “I’ve got a son! What do you know about that!”
“Everything,” gasped Tarlyon wearily. “He’s bald.”
“Bald be blowed, George! All babies are bald. In my time I was the baldest baby in Bognor, and proud of it. He’s a wonder, I tell you.”
“He’s awful!” sighed Tarlyon. “Go away, Hugo, go away! I'll explain later, but at the moment I am so tired of your face! And don’t dare to try to kiss Shirley more than once a day.” ”

“ Tallente stared at the speaker as though he had suddenly been bereft of his senses.
"What on earth are you talking about, sir?" he demanded.
Mr. Horlock somewhat resented his visitor's tone.
"Surely my statement was sufficiently explicit?" he said, a little stiffly. "The peerage concerning which at first, I admit, I saw difficulties, is yours. You can, without doubt, be of great service to us in the Upper House and—"
"But I'd sooner turn shopkeeper!" Tallente interrupted. "If I understand that it is your intention to offer me a peerage, let us have no misunderstanding about the matter. ”

“ As Tarlac rejoined Hovan, he discovered there weren't as many Traiti in the gathering hall as he'd thought. The lane of bodies which was all he'd been able to see had concealed tables laden with food and drink, as well as other members of the clan.
Several females and younglings came forward carrying drinks—and something the Ranger had known only intellectually suddenly became an emotional reality to him. This was a family, as close and loving as any human family, and he was a part of it. Until now, no living human could testify to anything but Traiti enthusiasm and skill in battle. ”

“ It was very strange," he added, half to himself.
"What about the cheapening of life?"
"It's a bit difficult to express," said Beresford slowly, "but somehow or other I seem to feel that the old idea of the sacredness of human life has gone for ever as far as I am concerned." Again he paused and for some seconds smoked in silence, then he continued whimsically, "Take an exaggerated case. Before the war if a man had——"
"Stolen from you the girl with the eyes, shall we say," suggested Tallis gravely. ”

“ You've literally hauled me back to earth by the heels; but as I say, that's your affair, not mine."
"Well," said Tallis as he rose and pocketed his pipe, "life always was a funny sort of muddle; but Kaiser Bill has added to its difficulties. I'm not at all sure that we doctors don't do more harm in saving people than in——"
"Killing them," suggested Beresford.
"Letting them die as they deserve," concluded Tallis quietly. ”

“ Hugo had managed to sneak into the room again, and when Tarlyon opened his eyes, he looked at Hugo beseechingly for news—whereupon the wretched man at once kissed him. But Tarlyon must have looked so furious, even with Shirley’s pretty face, that the fat nurse at once stopped Hugo from clinching; and when Tarlyon again looked beseechingly toward the wall of the room in which he had had pneumonia, Hugo nodded his head cheerfully and said: “Yes, he’s dead; poor old George! Doctor said he would have lived if he hadn’t been such a hard drinker. Poor old George! ”

“ Tallyho was unable to reply: he looked down over the banister—he looked up at the risible features of Tom Dashall, who was almost bursting at the ludicrous situation in which he found his friend and his servants. “Come,” said Tom, “there are no thieves—all's right”—to the servants, “you may quiet your minds and go to business. Bob, I'll be down with you presently.” Upon this, the stair-case was cleared in an instant of all but the unfortunate Tallyho ”

“ She went on in Language, with Hovan translating. "Your Ordeal will to human tolerances scaled be. As Fleet-Captain Arjen you told, we ask not certain death, and the Scarring at least would surely fatal be if we did not such allowance make. The Lords stern are, but fair, and you a good sponsor have. There danger is—it must there be—yet no more for you than for any other."
"That's good to hear." It didn't alter his certainty, but it did make Tarlac feel good to know the Traiti leaders were taking such care. ”

“ The maid was absent from the telephone for less than a minute. When she returned, her message was brief but satisfactory. Her ladyship would be exceedingly pleased to see Mr. Tallente.
CHAPTER XI Tallente found a taxi on the stand and drove at once to Charles Street. The butler took his hat and stick and conducted him into the spacious drawing-room upon the first floor. Here he received a shock. The most natural thing in the world had happened, but an event which he had never even taken into his calculation. There were half a dozen other callers, all, save one, women. ”

“ That is what the nurse said to the doctor, and the doctor looked grave and punched Tarlyon in the lungs with a telephone arrangement, but Tarlyon took no notice at all, still smiling to himself at the thought that in his life he had done every silly thing in the world but die of pneumonia in a converted garage, and maybe he would presently be doing that and the cup of folly be drained to the dregs. And every now and then Hugo would come in and take a glass of the iced wine by Tarlyon’s bed and look depressed, saying that Shirley was in pain and that he couldn’t bear it. ”

“ Tallis nodded as he gazed into the bowl of his pipe. Suddenly it struck Beresford that what made Tallis so easy to talk to was that he always appeared to be absorbed in something else, generally his pipe. It was much easier talking about such things to a man who did not persist in looking at you. ”

“ He returned to bed thinking, not of the weather, but of the Rain-Girl.
Soon after breakfast Tallis called to bid him good-bye.
"Now, young fellow," he said, "no tricks. Remember you are weak, and won't be able to stand much fatigue. If you set out to walk ten miles a day, or anything like it, your little worries and problems will settle themselves; but don't do it. I'm frightfully busy, and inquests are the devil."
"You've got a cheerful way of putting things," said Beresford drily.
"I've discovered that it's no use putting things to you in the normal way," replied Tallis with a smile. ”

“ How marvellously well was Thalia playing her comedy! Which was the real, and which the false? What of true value, what of peace and security was contained in her present existence? She had missed the meaning of things, and suddenly it was held up before her, in a garden.
A later hour found them in Honora's runabout wandering northward along quiet country roads on the eastern side of the island. Chiltern, who was driving, seemed to take no thought of their direction, until at last, with an exclamation, he stopped the horse ”

“ She was received with the utmost cordiality by Louis XVIII., and her salon quickly became the rallying-ground for all the brightest intellects of France. It is interesting to read that Talleyrand—the supple, silent, time-serving Talleyrand—was among her guests. She forgave him, of course, for his long oblivion of her old claims on his friendship; but not more thoroughly, in all probability, than he forgave himself. To Paris had returned the Abbé de Montesquion, Lally, Tollendal, Lafayette. ”

“ For a moment Beresford did not reply, then he laughed.
"You certainly are the most extraordinary fellow I ever met," he said. "So you think I can't walk ten miles?"
"You'll collapse before you reach the third mile," Tallis replied, with the air of a man making a simple statement of fact.
"What!" cried Beresford, sitting up straight in his surprise. "Am I as bad as that?"
"You're just weak and want building up," was the reply.
For some time the two men continued to smoke in silence.
"I suppose the war cheapens human life," said Beresford irrelevantly.
Tallis looked across at him ”