“I had three guesses,” I replied. “I wouldn’t guess again.”
“I’m doing it,” he resumed slowly, “I’m doing it because—I had to do something useful, and this is the sort of thing I like to do.”
I smiled a little.
“What’s that for, Gardy?” he asked.
“I didn’t know you ever recognized the words ‘had to’ as applicable to yourself.”
“By jove! And I didn’t, Gardy; I never did in the world—until three months ago. But then something happened.”
He looked out of the window for a long time.
“No, I’m not going to tell you, Gardy. It’s none of your business. No offense, you know.”
“Of course not. I didn’t ask.”
“You’ll know without asking, in time. Well, I’ve told you I found I had to do something—something useful. That was quite a jolt, you know. Never fancied I’d ever have to do anything, and as for doing anything useful—rot, my boy, for me, you know. But I found I had to, and so when I met Brack—By the way, Brack’s the chap who’s responsible for my ‘doing something’ in this way. Wonderful fellow. Met him in San Francisco. Don’t mind admitting to you, old man, that I was traveling pretty fast.