A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short StoriesChambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
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A Young Man in a Hurry, and Other Short Stories
Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
Short stories; United States -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
She raised her troubled eyes. Over the door was printed in gilt letters:
THE PRESIDENT'S SUITE.
Tears filled her eyes; truly they were kindly and thoughtful, these old
friends of her husband.
And all night long she slept in the room of her late husband, the
president of the Sagamore Angling Club, and dreamed till daybreak of ...
Langham.
V
Langham, clad in tweeds from head to foot, sat on the edge of his bed.
He had been sitting there since daybreak, and the expression on his
ornamental face had varied between the blank and the idiotic. That the
only woman in the world had miraculously appeared at Sagamore Lodge he
had heard from Colonel Hyssop and Major Brent at dinner the evening
before.
That she already knew of his presence there he could not doubt. That
she did not desire his presence he was fearsomely persuaded.
Clearly he must go--not at once, of course, to leave behind him a
possibility for gossip at his abrupt departure. From the tongues of
infants and well-fed club-men, good Lord deliver us!
He must go. Meanwhile he could easily avoid her.
And as he sat there, savoring all the pent-up bitterness poured out for
him by destiny, there came a patter of padded feet in the hallway, the
scrape of nails, a sniff at the door-sill, a whine, a frantic
scratching. He leaned forward and opened the door. His Highness landed
on the bed with one hysterical yelp and fell upon Langham, paw and
muzzle.
When their affection had been temporarily satiated, the dog lay down on
the bed, eyes riveted on his late master, and the man went over to his
desk, drew a sheet of club paper towards him, found a pen, and wrote:
"Of course it is an unhappy coincidence, and I will go when I can do so
decently--to-morrow morning. Meanwhile I shall be away all day fishing
the West Branch, and shall return too late to dine at the club table.
"I wish you a happy sojourn here--"
This he reread and scratched out.
"I am glad you kept His Highness."
This he also scratched out.
After a while he signed his name to the note, sealed it, and stepped
into the hallway.
At the farther end of the passage the door of her room was ajar; a
sunlit-scarlet curtain hung inside.
"Come here!" said Langham to the dog.
His Highness came with a single leap.
"Take it to ... her," said the man, under his breath. Then he turned
sharply, picked up rod and creel, and descended the stairs.
Meanwhile His Highness entered his mistress's chamber, with a polite
scratch as a "by your leave!" and trotted up to her, holding out the
note in his pink mouth.
She looked at the dog in astonishment. Then the handwriting on the
envelope caught her eye.
As she did not offer to touch the missive, His Highness presently sat
down and crowded up against her knees. Then he laid the letter in her
lap.
Her expression became inscrutable as she picked up the letter; while she
was reading it there was color in her cheeks; after she had read it
there was less.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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