The Cup of Fury: A Novel of Cities and ShipyardsHughes, Rupert
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The Cup of Fury: A Novel of Cities and Shipyards
Hughes, Rupert
World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Jake was one of those who never express sympathy for anybody except in
the course of a tirade against somebody else. He had small use for
wives, mothers, or children except as clubs to pound rich men with.
His wife, who knew him all too well, was not impressed by his
eloquence. Her typical answer to his typical tirade was, "I wonder how
on earth we're goin' to find Mamise."
Jake groaned at the anticlimax to his lofty flight, but he realized
that the main business before the house was what his wife propounded.
He remembered seeing an Information Bureau sign in the station. He had
learned from the newspaper in which he had seen Mamise's picture that
she was visiting Major Widdicombe. He had written the name down on the
tablets of his memory, and his first plan was to find Major
Widdicombe. Jake had a sort of wolfish cunning in tracing people he
wanted to meet. He could always find anybody who might lend him money.
He had mysterious difficulties in tracing some one who could give him
work.
He left his wife to simmer in the station while he set forth on a
scouting expedition. After much travel he found at last the office of
the Ordnance Department, in which Major Widdicombe toiled, and he
appeared at length at Major Widdicombe's desk.
Jake was cautious. He would not state his purpose. He hardly dared to
claim relationship with Miss Webling until he was positive that she
was his sister-in-law. Noting Jake's evasiveness, the Major discreetly
evaded the request for his guest's address. He would say no more
than:
"Miss Webling is coming down to lunch with me at the--that is with my
wife. I'll tell her you're looking for her; if she wants to meet you,
I'll tell you, if you come back here."
"All right, mucher bliged," said Jake. Baffled and without further
recourse, he left the Major's presence, since there seemed to be
nothing else to do. But once outside, he felt that there had been
something highly unsatisfactory about the parley. He decided to
imitate Mary's little lamb and to hang about the building till the
Major should appear. In an hour or two he was rewarded by seeing
Widdicombe leave the door and step into an automobile. Jake heard him
tell the driver, "The Shoreham."
Jake walked to the hotel and saw Marie Louise seated at a table by a
window. He recognized her by her picture and was duly triumphant. He
was ready to advance and demand recognition. Then he realized that he
could make no claim on her without his awful wife's corroboration. He
took a street-car back to the station and found his nominal helpmeet
sitting just where he had left her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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