"I don't promise to inquire one inch farther."
"But you will, nevertheless," concluded Mr. Colt with the patronising laugh of one who knows his man.
"Damn the fellow!" thought Copas. "Why cannot he be always the fool he looks?"
"And now," pursued Mr. Colt blithely, "I want to engage your interest in another matter—I mean the Pageant."
"Oh!" said Brother Copas. "Is that still going forward?"
"Settled, my dear sir! When Mr. Bamberger once puts his hand to the plough.… A General Committee has been formed, with the Lord-Lieutenant himself for President. The guarantee fund already runs to £1,500, and we shall get twice that amount promised before we've done. In short, the thing's to come off some time next June, and I am Chairman of the Performance Committee, which (under Mr. Isidore Bamberger) arranges the actual Pageant, plans out the 'book,' recruits authors, performers, et cetera. There are other committees, of course: Finance Committee, Ground and Grand Stand Committee, Costume Committee, and so on; but ours is the really interesting part of the work, and, sir, I want you to join us."
"You flatter me, sir; or you fish with a narrow mesh indeed."
"Why, I dare swear you would know more of the past history of Merchester than any man you met at the committee-table."
Brother Copas eyed him shrewdly.
"H'm! ... To be sure, I have been specialising of late on the Reformation period."