We laughed together at this programme; in brief, we made a good beginning.
That afternoon we set out together to look for suitable apartments for myself, and by a happy chance we had hardly gone a hundred paces before we spied a gentleman approaching us whom Shafthead declared to be a veritable authority on London life; also a cousin of his own.
“But will he not be busy?” I inquired.
“Young devil,” answered Shafthead, “it will serve to keep him out of mischief for an hour or two.”
Thereupon I was presented to Mr. Teddy Lumme, a young gentleman of small stature, with a small, cheerful, clean-shaven, dark face, and a large hat that sloped backward and sideways towards a large collar. His elbows moved as though he were driving a cab; his boots shone brightly enough to serve for mirrors; his morning-coat was cut in imitation of the “pink” of a huntsman; a large mass of variegated silk was fastened beneath his collar by a neat pearl pin; in a word, he belonged to a type that is universal, yet this specimen was unmistakably English. In age I learned afterwards that he was just twenty-five, emancipated for little more than a year from the University of Oxford, and still enjoying the relief from the rigorous rules of that institution. No accusation of reticence to be made against Mr. Lumme! He talked all the time, cheerfully and artlessly.
“You want rooms?” he said. “Quelle chose? I mean, don't you know, what kind? I don't know much French, I'm afraid. Oh, you talk English? Devilish glad to hear it. I say, Dick, you remember that girl I told you of? Well, it's just as I said. I knew, damn it all. What do you want to give?” (This to me.) “You don't care much? That simplifies matters.”
In this strain Mr. Lumme entertained us on our way, Shafthead regarding him with a half-amused, half-sardonic grin, of which his relative seemed entirely oblivious, while I enjoyed myself amazingly. I felt like Captain Cook on the gallant Marchand palavering with the chiefs of some equatorial state.
“I demand a cold bath and an English servant,” I said. “Anything else characteristic you can add, but those are essential.”
