As we came up, she started forward and pointed a trembling finger in the
direction of the boat. Berry and I swung on our heels.
Looking very well, Jonah was descending the gangway with a bored air.
My brother-in-law and I stared at him as at one risen from the dead.
Almost at once he saw us and waved airily.... A moment later he limped
to where we were standing and kissed his sister.
"I had an idea some of you'd turn up," he said coolly.
Berry turned to me.
"You hear?" he said grimly. "He had an idea some of us'd turn up. An
idea ... I suppose a little bird told him. Oh, take me away, somebody,
and let me die. Let me have one last imitation meal, and die. Where do
they sell wild oats?"
Jonah disregarded the interruption.
"At the last moment," he said calmly, "I felt there might be some
mix-up, so I came along too." He turned and nodded at a nervous little
man who was standing self-consciously a few paces away and, as I now
observed for the first time, carrying my cousin's dressing-case. "That,"
he added, "is Camille."
His momentous announcement rendered us speechless. At length--
"You--you mean to say," I gasped, "that--that it's a man?"
Jonah shrugged his shoulders.
"Look at his trousers," he said.
"But--but of course we expected a woman," cried Jill in a choking voice.
"We can't have a _chef_."
"Nothing," said Jonah, "was said about sex."
Berry spoke in a voice shaken with emotion.
"A man," he said. "A he-cook, called 'Camille.' And it actually occurred
to you that 'there might be some mix-up.' You know, your intuition is
positively supernatural. And it is for this," he added bitterly, "that I
have dissipated in ten crowded minutes a reputation which it has taken
years to amass. It is for this that I have deliberately insulted several
respectable ladies, jeopardized the _Entente Cordiale_, and invited
personal violence of a most unpleasant character. To do this I shall
have travelled about a hundred and fifty miles, with the shade
temperature at ninety, and lost what would have been an undoubtedly
pleasant and possibly extremely fruitful day at Sandown Park. Don't be
afraid. I wouldn't touch you for worlds. You're being reserved for some
very special form of dissolution, you are. She-bears, or something. I
should avoid woods, any way. And now I'm going home. To-morrow I shall
start on a walking tour, with a spare sock and some milk chocolate, and
try to forget. If that fails, I shall take the snail--I mean the veil."
He turned on his heel and stalked haughtily in the direction of the boat
train.
Gurgling with merriment, Jill laid a hand on my arm.
"Daphne will simply scream," she said.
"If this little stunt has cost us Pauline," said I, "she won't leave it
at that."
We turned to follow my brother-in-law.
Jonah beckoned to Camille.
"_Venez. Restez pres de moi,_" he said.
On arriving at Charing Cross we left Jonah and the cook to weather the
Customs, and drove straight to Cholmondeley Street.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account