"Not just now," replied Clendon, and kissed her twice. "Good-bye, dearest I shall expect a letter every day."
"Will you really? How long will you be absent?"
"I don't know! It depends on what Archie wants to see me about."
"Well, I'll write. Good-bye, and take my love to Kaituna."
"Certainly; only I hope it won't get damaged during the transit."
So they parted, and Tommy returned to discuss Kaituna's future with her mother, while Toby packed his portmanteau, and, after taking leave of his father, caught the afternoon train to town.
Archie Maxwell, when engaged in foreign parts, underwent all incidental hardships without a murmur, and accepted all disagreeables with a philosophy beautiful to behold; but Archie Maxwell when in London indemnified himself for all such hardships by giving himself as many pleasures as his income permitted him. Being a young gentleman of good family, he had a very reputable circle of acquaintances, he had very pleasant rooms in the West End, and belonged to the Globetrotters, which is, as every one knows, a very exclusive club. Being clever in his profession, Archie made a very decent income, and having no reason that he knew of to save money, spent every penny he made with a kind of "it-will-be-all-right-in-the-end," philosophy; but now that he was engaged to Kaituna, he made various excellent resolutions about economy, and resolved to put by as much as possible for the future home of Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell.
He was a very methodical young man, was Mr. Maxwell, and speedily made up his mind what course to pursue, which course involved the co-operation of Clendon--hence the telegram which brought the latter up to town.
As Toby had let his chambers during his visit to Deswarth, Archie offered to put him up for the night, which offer Clendon accepted with avidity, as he too was on the economic tack. Oh, it was truly a beautiful spectacle to behold these young men, formerly so careless of money matters, now as careful of the shillings as they had been careless of the pounds. On this night, however, as Archie was going to arrange his future plans, he proposed to Toby that they should, for a few hours only, revert to the dear old extravagant days and enjoy themselves. To this Toby, who hankered after the flesh pots of Egypt, agreed; so they arranged to have the best dinner which the Globetrotters was capable of providing; and afterwards Archie was to unburden his mind to his friend.
The Globetrotters is a very pleasant club, in an excellent situation, and as the members are all travelled men of a sociable turn of mind, the society to be found there is not to be despised from an informative point of view. Had Marco Polo, or Christopher Columbus, lived in the nineteenth century, they would certainly have been members of the Globetrotters; and as for Ulysses--but then Ulysses was fond of feminine society, so perhaps he would not have cared for the exclusively masculine element of the club. At all events, when Archie (who being a traveller, was a member) arrived with Toby--who being a stay-at-home, was not--they found a great many pleasant people there, including a bearded traveller, who had been lion-shooting in Africa; another who had made arrangements to find out the North Pole, if he was able; and several other nineteenth century productions, who all knew and liked Maxwell. Archie, however, was too taken up with his plans to waste much time in hearing adventures about big game shooting, and artful savages; so he went off with Toby to a very retired table, where they had an excellent dinner under the supervision of a friendly waiter, who was as great a traveller as any in the club, having been a steward on a P. & O. liner.