[23]
Impatiently Lord John Lester pushed his way through the chattering crowds in the lobby, and out into the street. He wanted to breathe, and to get away from the people who regarded the recent disasters mainly as an excitement, a news story, or a justification for their international distastes. To him they were pure horror and grief. They were his friends who had disappeared; it was his League which was threatened.
Moodily he walked along the paths of the Jardin Anglais; broodingly he seated himself upon a bench and stared frowning at the jet d'eau, and suspected, against his will, the Spanish and Portuguese Americans.
A large lady in purple, walking on high-heeled shoes as on stilts, and panting a little from the effort, stopped opposite him.
“Such a favour!” she murmured. “I told my husband it was too much to ask. But no, he would have it. He made me come and speak to you. I've left him over there by the fountain.” She creaked and sat down on the bench, and Lord John, who had risen as she addressed him, sat down too, wondering how most quickly to get away.
“The Union,” said the lady; and at that word Lord John bent towards her more attentively. “Lakeside branches. We're starting them, my husband and I, in all the lake villages. So important; so necessary. These villages are terribly behind the times. They simply live in the past. And what a past! Picturesque if you will—but not progressive—oh, no! So some of us have decided that there must be a branch of the Union in every lake village. We have brought a little band of organisers over to Geneva to-day, to attend the Assembly. But the Assembly is occupied this morning in electing committees. Necessary, of course; but no mention of the broader principles on which the League rests can be made until the voting is over. So we are having a little business meeting in an office off the Rue Croix d'Or. And when my husband and I caught sight of you he said to me, ‘If only we could get Lord John to come right away now and address a few words to our little gathering—oh, but really quite a few—its dead bones would [live!’ Now,] do I ask too much, Lord John?”
“My dear lady,” said Lord John, “I'm really sorry, but I simply haven't the time, I wish you all the luck in the world, but——”
The purple lady profoundly sighed.