“If he’s the kind of man I imagine, they’d take him up at the Colonial Office. I would introduce him to Brocklehurst myself, and he could start as deputy commissioner or something in a place where he would get all the adventure he’d want.”
“I should like that, of course. But I can’t answer for Edmund. He’s like a man in love—with the Astarte.”
“Oh, we’ll give him time to get over that. There’s no hurry at his age.”
We reached home to find that Edmund and his partner had arrived before us.
We saw them walking on the lawn and went on to meet them. They were deep in conversation and did not hear us approaching on the soft turf, so that we were close to them when they turned and faced us. Edmund was speaking and I caught the words “dry and level from the cellar to the beach.”
I remember a feeling of amusement that he should so soon be inflicting his obsession with the underground passage on Captain Welfare, whom I did not associate with antiquarian research. But this was swallowed up in my curiosity as to the personality of that mariner.
Edmund stopped short, naturally surprised at the unexpected presence of the bishop.
My first impression of Welfare was his look of astonishment, almost of fear, at finding himself in so august a presence. For an instant he looked like a man who thought himself trapped. Edmund hastily introduced him to me and he said “Pleased to meet you.”
I presented them both to the bishop.
Captain Welfare said “Pleased to meet your Lordship,” and kept his bowler hat in his hand as we all strolled back to the house.