The Great ImpersonationOppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
General
The Great Impersonation
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
Spy stories
Luncheon was a very pleasant meal, and a good many people noticed the
vivacity of the beautiful Lady Dominey whose picture was beginning
to appear in the illustrated papers. Afterwards they drank coffee and
sipped liqueurs under the great elm tree on the lawn, listening to the
music and congratulating themselves upon having made their escape
from London. In the ever-shifting panorama of gaily-dressed women and
flannel-clad men, the monotony of which was varied here and there by the
passing of a diplomatist or a Frenchman, scrupulously attired in morning
clothes, were many familiar faces. Caroline and a little group of
friends waved to them from the terrace. Eddy Pelham, in immaculate
white, and a long tennis coat with dark blue edgings, paused to speak to
them on his way to the courts.
“How is the motor business, Eddy?” Dominey asked, with a twinkle in his
eyes.
“So, so! I'm not quite so keen as I was. To tell you the truth,” the
young man confided, glancing around and lowering his voice so that no
one should share the momentous information, “I was lucky enough to pick
up a small share in Jere Moore's racing stable at Newmarket, the other
day. I fancy I know a little more about gee-gees than I do about the
inside of motors, what?”
“I should think very possibly that you are right,” Dominey assented, as
the young man passed on with a farewell salute.
Terniloff looked after him curiously.
“It is the type of young man, that,” he declared, “which we cannot
understand. What would happen to him, in the event of a war? In the
event of his being called upon, say, either to fight or do some work of
national importance for his country?”
“I expect he would do it,” Dominey replied. “He would do it pluckily,
whole-heartedly and badly. He is a type of the upper-class young
Englishman, over-sanguine and entirely undisciplined. They expect, and
their country expects for them that in the case of emergency pluck would
take the place of training.”
The Right Honourable Gerald Watson stood upon the steps talking to the
wife of the Italian Ambassador. She left him presently, and he came
strolling down the lawn with his hands behind his back and his eyes
seeming to see out past the golf links.
“There goes a man,” Terniloff murmured, “whom lately I have found
changed. When I first came here he met me quite openly. I believe, even
now, he is sincerely desirous of peace and amicable relations between
our two countries, and yet something has fallen between us. I cannot
tell what it is. I cannot tell even of what nature it is, but I have an
instinct for people's attitude towards me, and the English are the worst
race in the world at hiding their feelings. Has Mr. Watson, I wonder
come under the spell of your connection, the Duke of Worcester? He
seemed so friendly with both of us down in Norfolk.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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