The Chief tapped an excellent set of teeth with a black lead pencil, a favorite trick when engaged in thinking constructively. “Suppose you go a bear—a modest bear?” Again he plucked at his left ear, but this time a smile famous upon five continents accompanied the action.
“When shall I cover, sir?” said Mr. Mumby, impassively.
“Twelve o’clock on Thursday,” said the Colossus. “And you can start the fund of His Nibs with the proceeds.”
“A thousand pounds, sir?” Mr. Mumby was more impassive than ever.
“Yes. A thousand pounds from the proprietor of the Planet newspaper. That, I think, should meet the case—to begin with, at any rate.”
For the third time the Colossus plucked a little whimsically at his left ear. Mr. Mumby bowed discreetly and retired.
XI
THE Chief turned again to his letters. That which he opened next was not the one that was really going to interest him. The place for it was still the bottom of the pile. He felt this bonne bouche was going to interest him so much that he would keep it until the very end.
All the same a mild surprise was contained in the second letter. It was an invitation for a week-end in the country, “to meet some rather interesting people.” Mr. Hartz permitted himself a faint smile. The socially gifted Mrs. Carburton was a power in the land, but emphatically she belonged to “the other camp.” Strictly speaking, the Colossus was far too big to belong to a camp. Mrs. Carburton did not belong to one either; but of late years they had not set each other’s genius. The famous châtelaine of Doe Hill made no secret of her belief that the U. P. had deliberately wrought the ruin of one of her rather numerous protégées. She was known to have a deep dislike for Saul Hartz. But she was important enough as the world went for an invitation to Doe Hill to be not without piquancy even for him.
Should he accept it? Why not? His attitude of slightly contemptuous indifference towards women in general was his attitude towards this woman, but she was a mine of information, and she made a hobby of gracing her table with the most interesting people in Europe. And for those alive to the lure of sex, her power of attraction was undoubted. Few men would have denied that Rose Carburton was, in her way, a siren.