“You’re as welcome as the flowers in spring, Reggie, old boy,” declared Joe. “What good wind blew you down this way?”
“Guv’nor had a bit of business that needed attendin’ to in New Orleans,” explained Reggie. “Lot o’ tiresome blighters I had to see, dontcha know, an’ when I got through I felt no end ragged an’ thought I’d freshen up by takin’ a run down here an’ see what my bally brother-in-law an’ the Giants were doin’.”
He carefully crossed his legs so as to interfere as little as possible with the knife-edged creases in his trousers, settled back in his chair and beamed on them.
Reggie Varley was Mabel’s brother and consequently Joe’s brother-in-law. Their first meeting had not been propitious, but when Joe learned that Reggie was Mabel’s brother, he was so deeply in love with that young lady that he was ready to pardon and forget the shortcomings of any of her relations. So he tolerated Reggie at first for Mabel’s sake and later on was surprised to find that he had developed a real liking for Reggie on his own account.
For when he once got below the surface he found that Reggie was a genuinely good fellow, despite his little foibles and affectations. His chief defect, and after all not a very serious one, was his love of clothes. He was always dressed, as he was now, in the very extreme of fashion, fawn-colored gloves, creamy spats, cut-in coat and costly tie, the whole finished off with a cane and a monocle. He was inordinately fond of anything English, and cultivated an accent that he thought would pass current in London and stamp him as one to the manner born.
But beneath these superficial oddities, that often provoked a smile from Joe and Jim, he was kindly, genial, honorable and clear-headed in business affairs. He was devotedly attached to his sister and his brother-in-law. Then, too, he was an ardent baseball fan, and that in Joe’s eyes was sufficient to cover his trifling shortcomings. He and Joe got on famously together, and Reggie’s pride and delight in Joe’s prowess on the diamond were only second to those of Mabel herself.
But now a look of apprehension came into Reggie’s eyes as he noticed Joe’s bandaged arm.
“What’s the matter with the old wing?” he asked. “Nothing serious, I hope, eh, what?”
“I hope not,” replied Joe, and then in response to Reggie’s eager questioning told him the story of the afternoon.