The Prince and BettyWodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
General
The Prince and Betty
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Humorous stories
Mr. Jarvis had not forgotten Betty. His meeting with her at the office
of _Peaceful Moments_ had marked an epoch in his life. Never
before had anyone quite like her crossed his path, and at that moment
romance had come to him. His was essentially a respectful admiration.
He was content--indeed, he preferred to worship from afar. Of his own
initiative he would never have met her again. In her presence, with
those gray eyes of hers looking at him, tremors ran down his spine, and
his conscience, usually a battered and downtrodden wreck, became
fiercely aggressive. She filled him with novel emotions, and whether
these were pleasant or painful was more than he could say. He had not
the gift of analysis where his feelings were concerned. To himself he
put it, broadly, that she made him feel like a nickel with a hole in
it. But that was not entirely satisfactory. There were other and
pleasanter emotions mixed in with this humility. The thought of her
made him feel, for instance, vaguely chivalrous. He wanted to do risky
and useful things for her. Thus, if any fresh guy should endeavor to
get gay with her, it would, he felt, be a privilege to fix that same
guy. If she should be in bad, he would be more than ready to get busy
on her behalf.
But he had never expected to meet her again, certainly not on his own
doorstep at ten in the morning. To Bat ten in the morning was included
with the small hours.
Betty smiled at him, a little anxiously. She had no suspicion that she
played star to Mr. Jarvis' moth in the latter's life, and, as she eyed
him, standing there on the doorstep, her excuse for coming to him began
to seem terribly flimsy. Not being aware that he was in reality a tough
Bayard, keenly desirous of obeying her lightest word, she had staked
her all on the chance of his remembering the cat episode and being
grateful on account of it; and in the cold light of the morning this
idea, born in the watches of the night, when things tend to lose their
proportion, struck her as less happy than she had fancied. Suppose he
had forgotten all about it! Suppose he should be violent! For a moment
her heart sank. He certainly was not a pleasing and encouraging sight,
as he stood there blinking at her. No man looks his best immediately on
rising from bed, and Bat, even at his best, was not a hero of romance.
His forelock drooped dankly over his brow; there was stubble on his
chin; his eyes were red, like a dog's. He did not look like the Fairy
Prince who was to save her in her trouble.
"I--I hope you remember me, Mr. Jarvis," she faltered. "Your cat. I--"
He nodded speechlessly. Hideous things happened to his face. He was
really trying to smile pleasantly, but it seemed a scowl to Betty, and
her voice died away.
Mr. Jarvis spoke.
"Ma'am--sure!--step 'nside."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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