“10 Beaulieu Gardens, S.W.” he read. “Mrs. J. de Montford Scarsby. At Home, Thursday, June 24, 9 to 11. To have the honour of meeting His Majesty the King of Megalia. R.S.V.P.”
“The king,” said Gorman, “is going in his uniform as Field Marshal of the Megalian Army. It took me half an hour to persuade him to do that, and I don’t wonder. It’s a most striking costume—light blue silk blouse, black velvet gold-embroidered waistcoat, white corded breeches, immense patent leather boots, a gold chain as thick as a cable of a small yacht with a dagger at the end of it, and a bright red fur cap with a sham diamond star in front. The poor man will look an awful ass, and feel it. I wouldn’t have let him in for the uniform if I could possibly have helped it, but that brute Scarsby was as vindictive as a red Indian and as obstinate as a swine. His wife could do nothing with him at first. She came to me with tears and said she’d have to give up the idea of entertaining the king at her party if his coming depended on Scarsby’s withdrawing his action against Madame Ypsilante. I told her to have another try and promised her he’d come in uniform if she succeeded. That induced her to tackle her husband again. I don’t know how she managed it, but she did. Scarsby has climbed down and doesn’t even ask for an apology. I advise you to come to the party.”
“Will Madame Ypsilante be there?”
“I hope not,” said Gorman. “I shall persuade her to stay at home if I can. I don’t know whether Scarsby will show up or not; but it’s better to take no risks. She might kick him again.”
“What I was wondering,” said Dane-Latimer, “was whether she’d kick me. She might feel that she ought to get a bit of her own back out of the plaintiff’s solicitor. I’m not a tall man. She could probably reach my face, and I don’t want to have Scarsby mending up my teeth afterwards.”
“My impression is,” said Gorman, “that Mrs. Scarsby would allow anyone to kick her husband up and down Piccadilly if she thought she’d be able to entertain royalty afterwards. I don’t think she ever got higher than a Marquis before. By the way, poor Konrad Karl is to have a throne at the end of her drawing-room, and I’m to present her. You really ought to come, Dane-Latimer.”
XII. A COMPETENT MECHANIC
The car swept across the narrow bridge and round the corner beyond it. Geoffrey Dane opened the throttle a little and allowed the speed to increase. The road was new to him, but he had studied his map carefully and he knew that a long hill, two miles or more of it, lay before him. His car was highly powered and the engine was running smoothly. He looked forward to a swift, exhilarating rush from the river valley behind him to the plateau of the moorlands above. The road was a lonely one. Since he left a village, three miles behind him, he had met nothing but one cart and a couple of stray cattle. It was very unlikely that he would meet any troublesome traffic before he reached the outskirts of Hamley, the market town six miles beyond the hill and the moorland. The car swept forward, gathering speed. Geoffrey Dane saw the hand of his speedometer creep round the dial till it showed forty miles an hour.
Then rounding a bend in the road he saw another car motionless in the very middle of the road. Greoffrey Dane swore abruptly and slowed down. He was not compelled to stop. He might have passed the obstructing car by driving with one wheel in the ditch. But he was a young man with a troublesome conscience, and he was a member of the Royal Automobile Club. He was bound in honour to render any help he could to motorists in distress on the high road.