old days. It has been continually lived in and looked after ever since, and the American’s modern conveniences have been admirably contrived. My uncle drew the plans himself, and I must say he made a marvellous job of it. So unless something quite unforeseen crops up in the roof I shall have to submit a very favourable report.”
Ione drew a long breath.
“I shall just have to tell Geoffrey that I don’t think the Middle Ages are good for Allegra’s nerves. He won’t like it, and he’ll think I’m all the interfering sisters-in-law rolled into one, but it can’t be helped.”
The waitress changed their plates again. She put down what looked like a piece of real English cheese and a dish of homemade biscuits. She also produced some quite admirable coffee.
It was over the cheese and the coffee that Jim Severn said suddenly,
“You’ll never guess who I ran into downstairs in the coffeeroom having a snack.”
“Someone I know?”
“Well-” his voice sounded amused-“someone you have talked to.”
“With you?”
“With me.”
Something like a small cold draught drew in from the glass of the window behind her. She had not noticed it before. And Jim Severn was saying,
“You’ve even heard him sing. That was how I recognized him. He was drinking a quite horrible brew of cocoa laced with whisky, which he tells me he finds very sustaining, and bursting at intervals into ‘The Bluebells of Scotland.’ ” Ione knew why she had felt cold. She was back in that horrible night of fog, following the man whom she had just heard bargaining over the price of a life, and it was “The Bluebells of Scotland” that he had whistled and sung as he clattered with his stick along parapet and balustrade. She caught her breath sharply and said,
“Oh,
no
!” And then, “You didn’t say anything about me-”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know that I should have spoken to him, but he looked straight at me and waved a hand. I thought he recognized me. The gas-lamp out in the street was quite bright when he went away at three o’clock in the morning, and he could have seen me by it, but as it turned out, he was just being matey and didn’t know me from Adam. By the time I had tumbled to this I had already addressed him as Professor MacPhail, and he was busy swearing me to secrecy.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea. There must have been quite a lot of whisky in that cocoa, because the tears were running down his face. He said it was a matter of his professional reputation, and got off quite a piece about the unguarded tongue, and discretion being the mother of safety. ‘Twa strangers in a fog, and how was it possible to suspect that I was to come across either of them again! The tongue of truth has aye been mine-except in the way of my professional career. And what would hinder that truthful tongue from giving the name with which I was borrn-and not one to be ashamed of. No, no-a decent name and a decent family, the MacPhails. But-’ here he buttonholed me and diffused a cloud of whisky-‘
but
, for prrofessional purposes the name is Regulus Mactavish-Prrofessor Regulus Mactavish. And for the hoardings and the theatre bills The Great Prospero!’ ”
The imitation was very well done. Ione should have laughed, but there was no laughter in her. She felt a cold horror, and she had turned so pale that Jim Severn stretched out his hand across the table and said,
“What is it-is anything wrong?”
“I don’t know-”
He left his seat and came to sit beside her.
“My dear, what is it?”
She put a cold hand into his warm one.
“I’ll tell you-in a minute. I’m probably being silly.”
He filled up her coffee-cup and pushed it over to her with his free hand.
“You’d better drink this whilst it’s hot.”
When she had drunk the coffee she said,
“Jim, I don’t want to stay here-I don’t want that man to see me-I don’t want him to know I’m here. I’ll wait in the ladies’ room
Ione drew a long breath.
“I shall just have to tell Geoffrey that I don’t think the Middle Ages are good for Allegra’s nerves. He won’t like it, and he’ll think I’m all the interfering sisters-in-law rolled into one, but it can’t be helped.”
The waitress changed their plates again. She put down what looked like a piece of real English cheese and a dish of homemade biscuits. She also produced some quite admirable coffee.
It was over the cheese and the coffee that Jim Severn said suddenly,
“You’ll never guess who I ran into downstairs in the coffeeroom having a snack.”
“Someone I know?”
“Well-” his voice sounded amused-“someone you have talked to.”
“With you?”
“With me.”
Something like a small cold draught drew in from the glass of the window behind her. She had not noticed it before. And Jim Severn was saying,
“You’ve even heard him sing. That was how I recognized him. He was drinking a quite horrible brew of cocoa laced with whisky, which he tells me he finds very sustaining, and bursting at intervals into ‘The Bluebells of Scotland.’ ” Ione knew why she had felt cold. She was back in that horrible night of fog, following the man whom she had just heard bargaining over the price of a life, and it was “The Bluebells of Scotland” that he had whistled and sung as he clattered with his stick along parapet and balustrade. She caught her breath sharply and said,
“Oh,
no
!” And then, “You didn’t say anything about me-”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know that I should have spoken to him, but he looked straight at me and waved a hand. I thought he recognized me. The gas-lamp out in the street was quite bright when he went away at three o’clock in the morning, and he could have seen me by it, but as it turned out, he was just being matey and didn’t know me from Adam. By the time I had tumbled to this I had already addressed him as Professor MacPhail, and he was busy swearing me to secrecy.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea. There must have been quite a lot of whisky in that cocoa, because the tears were running down his face. He said it was a matter of his professional reputation, and got off quite a piece about the unguarded tongue, and discretion being the mother of safety. ‘Twa strangers in a fog, and how was it possible to suspect that I was to come across either of them again! The tongue of truth has aye been mine-except in the way of my professional career. And what would hinder that truthful tongue from giving the name with which I was borrn-and not one to be ashamed of. No, no-a decent name and a decent family, the MacPhails. But-’ here he buttonholed me and diffused a cloud of whisky-‘
but
, for prrofessional purposes the name is Regulus Mactavish-Prrofessor Regulus Mactavish. And for the hoardings and the theatre bills The Great Prospero!’ ”
The imitation was very well done. Ione should have laughed, but there was no laughter in her. She felt a cold horror, and she had turned so pale that Jim Severn stretched out his hand across the table and said,
“What is it-is anything wrong?”
“I don’t know-”
He left his seat and came to sit beside her.
“My dear, what is it?”
She put a cold hand into his warm one.
“I’ll tell you-in a minute. I’m probably being silly.”
He filled up her coffee-cup and pushed it over to her with his free hand.
“You’d better drink this whilst it’s hot.”
When she had drunk the coffee she said,
“Jim, I don’t want to stay here-I don’t want that man to see me-I don’t want him to know I’m here. I’ll wait in the ladies’ room
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