Page:Bailey - Call Mr Fortune (Dutton, 1921).djvu/212

Rh "You won't be so damned sympathetic when you've met him," Lomas said. A slip of paper was presented to him. "Hallo! Here's Kimball. I thought he was leaving me alone too long. Well, we've got something for him to-day."

"He has a large fat head": thus some perky journalist began a sketch of the Rt. Hon. Horace Kimball. And he faithfully reported the first elementary effect of seeing Mr. Kimball, who looked a heavy fellow, with the bulk of his head and neck supported on a sturdy frame. But on further acquaintance people discovered a vivacity of movement and a keenness of expression which made them uncomfortable. Yet he had, as I intend you to observe, a bluff, genial manner, and his cruellest critics were always those who had not met him. For the rest, he aimed at a beautiful neatness in his clothes, and succeeded.

He rushed in. "Well, Lomas, if we don't make an end of this business, it'll make an end of us," he announced, and flung himself at a chair. "Anything new?"

"I have just been discussing it with Mr. Fortune."

"That's right. Want the best brains we can get." He nodded his heavy head at Reggie. "What do you make of it?"

"I don't wonder you find it harassing," Reggie said.

"Harassing! That's putting it mildly. I've lost